The Monsters We've Become
by Shattered Deception
Summary: IN REVISION PROCESS
1. Chapter 1

**Yay, new fanfiction time! Ohhhh yeahhhhhhh!**

**Well, a few things first:**

**1) If you've read my other fics and are wondering why I haven't updated those but are posting new ones all of the sudden, it's because I'm hiatus for those, so sorry!**

**2) This fanfic is about 17 and 18 as humans, as the summary said, and nothing really more. At the end I'll have some canon events but yeah... :/**

**3) I recently got a new computer and I haven't set up Microsoft Word yet, and my current word processor has no spell check. I've tried to edit it and check it over myself but you know that never gets rid off all spelling errors... Sorry!**

**So yeah, that's all I really needed to say... Other than that, I hope you enjoy this fanfiction about my favorite people in the world THE TELETUBBIES!**

**Er, um, sorry... I mean SEVENTEEN AND EIGHTEEN! XD XD XD Oh, and look at that! A quote! Oooh, fancay!**

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_Nobody affects us as deeply as our brothers and sisters do – not our parents, not our children, not our friends. Siblings are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and cautionary tales. They teach us how to resolve conflicts and how not to, how to conduct friendships and when to walk away. Our siblings are the only people we know who truly qualify as partners for life, and our connections to them last a lifetime. _–– _The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us_ by Jeffery Kluger.

xxx

Have you ever lost someone you loved dearly? Someone who was always there for you and cared for you?

It hurts, doesn't it?

I remember the day I lost my parents.

It started off like any other normal day. I wake to the feeling of something tickling my nose. Opening my eyes, I could see my twin sister dangling in my face, a huge mischievous grin on her lips.

"Wake up sleepy head!" she giggled, rubbing her nose against mine. "Get up!"

I groaned and rolled over, burying my face into my pillow. "Go away, Avryl," I moaned out, shutting my eyes for more sleep. "I don't want to get up right now."

She paused for a second before flopping down onto my back. "But Aaric! The sun's out! It's time to go play!" She pushed her nose into my hair. "_Get up!_"

I really didn't want to get up. I stayed up all night playing video games, and getting up that early was something I had never accomplished before on my own. I always want to sleep in at least until mid afternoon... However, Avryl always has other ideas.

"Aaric slept and slept some more, it was very annoying. I got up onto his bed and said, POP GOES THE WEASEL!" she sang loudly, jumping on my body. I grinned into my pillow, trying not to laugh and egg her on. Unfortunately, the more she jumped on me, the more I wanted to pop up and grab her.

"...I stomped and jumped on top of him, but never could I wake him. And that's when I tickled and said..."

"POP GOES THE WEASEL!" I shouted and sprang from the bed. She screamed in surprise as tackled her to the ground. She started giggling furiously, trying to squirm from my fingers assaulting her tummy. I laughed above her and said, "This is for waking me up!"

"A-Aaric!" she laughed, short on breath. "S-stop...!"

"Never!" I commanded and started wrestling with her. She giggled in glee and fought back, tugging on my black hair, trying to kick me off of her. I laughed too and pulled her on top of me before bucking her over my head. She laughed in mirth and jumped up and down.

"Again! Again!" she cheered as I shoved myself into a sitting position. I rubbed my head and felt her arms lock around my neck. Her legs curled around my stomach and she started smacking my shoulder. "Giddy-up pony! H-yah!"

Laughing, I stood up and held onto her feet, galloping out of my room and down the hall making horse noises, much to Avryl's delight. We thundered right past our parents room and then down the stairs, trying to keep our balance and not plummet down to the bottom floor.

Downstairs, we rode around the house as I pretended to be Avryl's horse, carrying her everywhere as she laughed and clutched my neck, nearly choking me. We hardly noticed when our drowsy and incoherent mother wandered downstairs until we were bumping head on with her. Both Avryl and I collapsed in a fit of giggles at her feet.

"What's this...?" I heard my mother say sleepily, rubbing her crystal blue eyes. She broke into a smile and kneeled down next to us. "What are you two doing up so early?"

"Playing horsey!" Avryl squealed, jumping up and hugging our mother. "Do you want to play too?"

Our mother laughed lightly and pulled Avryl up into her arms. "Maybe later sweeties. Mommy still hasn't had her coffee yet."

"Aw Mom," I said and wrapped my arms around her legs. "Play with us!"

She brushed my hair and set Avryl down, grinning at the two of us with so much warmth, it could melt even the coldest recesses of earth. She put her hands on her hips and flicked dark black hair from her eyes. "...So, what do you want to play then?"

Avryl and I cheered and pulled our mother by the hand around the living room in a game of tag. Her beautiful laugh filled the morning air, followed by the trills of delight from both Avryl and me.

Dad wandered down the stairs a couple minutes later, surprised to see his whole family trouncing around, acting like horses and dancing to music no one else could hear. But all it took was a tug from me and Avryl to get him to do the same.

After awhile, the four of us collapsed in a heap on the floor, laughter still ebbing our voices. I cuddled close to Mom while Dad held Avryl to his chest and cradled her in his arms. Both of us looked over at each other in satisfaction.

"That was fun," Avryl said and grinned. "Can we do it again tomorrow please?"

"Of course we can," Mom said. "We can do this every morning if you want."

"Yes!" I cheered happily. "Every morning we're going to do this, okay?"

"Yes sir!" Dad said and winked over at Mom. "But when you get older... you probably won't be saying the same..."

"Yeah," Mom chimed in. "When you get older, and you're teenagers, you'll want to do with us!"

"You'll become moody, sullen kids who are too busy shopping or driving to have enough time for their parents anymore!" Dad said with a grin.

"No!" both me and Avryl gasped in unison. "Never! We'll never do that!"

"Never never ever!" Avryl confirmed, hugging Dad. "We'll never leave you guys!"

"Yeah," I agreed and hugged Mom. "I'll stay here with you forever."

Mom and Dad laughed and hugged the two of us. "We know, children," Mom soothed. "We know we'll always have the two of you as our little babies."

"Hey, I'm not a baby!" I corrected her. "I'm almost eight!"

Mom laughed and buried her nose in my neck. "You'll always be my little man," she whispered and held me tight. I closed my eyes and hugged her back, breathing in her scent. I was never going to let her go...

"...Who's up for lunch and a movie?!" Dad suddenly called out. Avryl started bouncing.

"Ooh, ooh, me!" she said and used Dad's chest as a spring board, catapulting herself across the living room. "Can we go see the princess movie? Please?!"

Mom and I stood too, my face wrinkled. "Princess movie? Nahhh," I said, crossing my arms. "I wanna see the zombie one!"

"Well, I want to see the princess movie," Avryl said and glared at me. I glared right back and stuck my tongue out at her. She did the same.

"Well, how about we see both?" Dad suggested and bent between the two of us. "Sound good?"

Instantly both me and Avryl forgot about our glaring contest in turn for hugging our father in thanks.

"No problem," he said and gave us a squeeze. "Just run upstairs and get ready to go!"

"Yeah, let's go Avryl!" I said and pulled her arm towards the staircase. "C'mon!"

So the two of us ran upstairs to get ready.

Little did I know, that would be the last time our family would spend a morning as a whole together.

xxx

Coming out of the diner after a huge helping of lunch, Avryl and I retold exactly what we had seen in the theaters in the previous movies.

"Ooh and I just _loved_ the way Najika chose the frog prince instead of that creepy guy!" Avryl sighed, stars in her eyes. "I want a guy just like that when I'm older!"

"I think when all those zombies got thrown into the pool and electrocuted was cooler than _that_," I said and bumped my shoulder in my sister's. She bumped me back.

"Yeah, well, Najika's still better than those silly zombies. They weren't even scary!" she confessed. I nodded.

"I guess not..." I smiled and turned around to my parents who were walking behind us, hands entwined. "Did you think the zombies were scary?"

"Oh yes," Mom said and leaned against Dad's shoulder. "So scary."

Dad nuzzled Mom's hair and nodded. "I was scared of them too, if I do say so myself."

"Daaad," I said sternly, brows wrinkled. "You were not."

Dad only winked at me.

I turned back to Avryl as we stepped off the curb and into the parking lot towards the car. A sudden feeling of dread washed over me. Though the sun was shining, I shivered deeply. Avryl, as if sensing this, turned to me.

"Aaric, are you okay?" she asked, looking at me with her narrow blue eyes. "Is something wrong?"

I stopped walking momentarily to look around. Nothing was really out of the ordinary. People were milling about in the parking lot, cars drove peacefully in the street, birds chirped in the air. Nothing was wrong. But then why did I feel so... worried?

I turned to look at my blond sister. She looked back with a concerned look on her face.

"I'm fine," I told her, even mustering a smile. "Just... I got a bad feeling."

Her mouth turned into a frown and she took my hand. "Well, you're okay, right?"

I pushed my fingers between hers. "I am now," I said and threw my arm over her shoulder, still holding her hand. "Now that I've got my sis here with me."

She relaxed and let herself sink into my clutch. We continued walking across the parking lot, talking about a potential anime marathon when we got home, and got to our car. Mom and Dad loaded us into the back in our training seats (even though I always claim I don't need one) and started up the car, slowly driving out of the parking lot.

Some song came onto the radio then and Avryl and I started singing to it at the top of our lungs, giggling at our parents slight annoyance. And even though the volume was on high, and I was singing loudly, I could still hear the loud screeching that seemed to fill my whole body that haunts me to this day.

Out of nowhere, a black sports car hurtled around the on coming street corner, swerving across the road as if the driver was no longer in control. I remember Avryl and I stopped singing immediately and started screaming as the black car came hurtling right at us. Dad swerved the car in an effort to get out of the other driver's way, and I remember hearing Mom's shrill scream piercing the air.

What happened next is still sort of a blur. No matter how hard I try, I can't picture it clearly in my mind.

But I distinctly remember a loud crash, getting jolted forward in my seat, slammed back because of the seatbelt. I remember the sound of crunching metal. The smell of burning. The feeling of my head bashing into the roof.

And then dizziness. I remember feeling so dizzy, I could probably throw up if I wasn't so disorientated. I blinked back pain and look around, realizing why I felt so discombobulated. Because I was hanging upside down in my seat.

I groaned and looked over at Avryl who also hung upside down, tangling in her seat belt. Her eyes were closed and blood dripped from her lips. A feeling of fear doused me. Was she... dead?

"A-Avryl," I whispered, hardly able to conjure up my own voice. "Avryl...? Can you hear me?"

I waited for a couple seconds while she didn't respond. Tears swelled in my eyes. _Avryl can't be dead_, I thought to myself. _She _can't_ be_.

After a couple minutes she stirred slightly and looked at me, one eye bleeding from the rim. I reached a hand out to her and wiped the blood away.

"Are you okay?" I whispered.

"Y...yeah..." she said, looking around in confusion. "Where are we?"

"In the car," I responded. God, how my head hurt. It hurt to even think properly.

"The car...?" Avryl echoed before gasping in recognition. "Mom... Dad!"

I turned to look up at the front of the car only to see crushed metal, as though the car had folded in on itself. I blinked.

"Mommy? Daddy?" I heard Avryl whimper, trying to pull herself from her seatbelt. Somewhere, police sirens went off.

"Aaric, help me," she demanded, fumbling with her lock. I undid mine and fell to the roof with an _oof_. I crawled forward and helped her out too, letting her fall into my arms. The two of us crawled from the burning wreckage and into the air, stumbling and falling over ourselves. We turned to look back at the car, only to see it didn't even look like a car anymore. Try crumpled piece of burnt paper.

Avryl wandered to the cockpit of the car and peeked inside, mumbling, "Mommy? Daddy?" Over and over. I held back, not wanted to believe what I knew had happened.

"M-Mommy?" Avryl mewled and then screamed. I limped to her side only to have her arms thrown around me and for her to sob against my chest. Confused, I looked to see what made her so upset, wishing I hadn't...

Our mother and father, tossed out of the car like dolls, laying in a mangled heap on the ground.

I suddenly felt light-headed at seeing them like that, clutching my sister to my chest in sheer horror. I wavered on my feet for a few minutes unable to get the images of my broken and bloody parents out of my head. I knew what had happened... I just didn't want to believe it. M-my parents were... dead.

I fell to the ground and blacked out, the sound of sirens ringing in my ears.

xxx

I woke to a nurse patting my sweaty forehead. My eyes flit open and saw she was looking down at me with a concern.

"Welcome back, sweetie," she says pleasently. "How do you feel?"

I groaned once and tried to push myself into a sitting position but the nurse layed a hand over my shoulder.

"Honey, I don't think that's a good idea right now. You're still very injured," she informed me, gently pushing me back down onto my pillow. I looked up at her, still disorientated.

"W-where am I?" I muttered out.

"The hospital," she quipped and walked over to a nearby window, flicking open the heavy curtains. Light filled the room, making my eyes water and sting. "You've been out of it for two days! For awhile there, we were worried you had critical injuries, like brain damage. Thank heavens that isn't the case."

...Brain damage? Hospital? I... I don't remember...

Then it suddenly came flooding back. Going out for lunch, the car accident, my parents on the ground...

Pain erupted from my forehead and I fell back onto my pillow, wailing in pain over my lost parents. The nurse rushed to my side and started checking my I.V's to see if they had somehow stopped working. But no matter what she did to the machines hooked up to me, the pain wouldn't stop.

Because no machine could take away the pain of my lost parents. They were gone... They weren't coming back. I would never see my mom's warm smile, I would never feel my dad's strong arms around me... They were both gone.

Blinking through the pain, I opened my eyes to see the nurse and another doctor looking at me with fear. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing would come out. Only a thick, dry rasp.

"There, there," said the other doctor, holding something sharp to my arm. I felt something prick me and then relief washed over me. Slowly, I felt myself relax and sink into the bed.

"What was it, Doctor?" I heard the nurse ask in a hazy voice. I could feel myself slipping into unconsciencness.

"The boy lost both his parents, it's nothing physical. He's in shock. But he'll be okay now, for the time being."

My eyelids started to drooped shut as I watched both adults quietly walk to the door and exit the room equally silently just before I blacked out.

xxx

When I woke again, the window revealed it was nighttime. The moon floated gently in the sky in its wreath of stars. I looked around to see if maybe the nurse was there, but the room was otherwise empty.

The monitors next to my bed bleeped in sync, and outside the door I could hear someone walk by. I suddenly thought of Avryl and how she was doing.

I sat up slowly, allowing my head time to adjust. I swung my legs over the side of the bed, only for a splitting pain to erupt in my side. I shouted in surprise and fell against the bed.

With hesitation, I carefully pulled the hospital gown up to reveal a huge gash on my abdomen. It had been patched and sewn shut, but the wound was still red and angry. I winced as I brushed my fingers against it. It must've been glass from the windshield that had gotten lodged in my stomach. And it _hurt_.

Still, I didn't want to lay in bed wallowing over the loss of my parents, so I bit my tongue, detatched the I.V's entering my skin and I lifted myself to my feet. A hiss escaped my teeth as my feet took on pressure, signaling that the ankles must be sprained or something. What a mess.

Taking small baby stes towards the door at first, I eventually let the pain numb my feet so I could pick up the pace. I layed a hand on the handle, listening for activity on the other side but all I heard was silence.

Carefully, I eased the door open and and stepped out into the darkened hall. I glanced down the corridor and noticed a couple nurses giggling at the end of the hallway, but they weren't looking in my direction.

Now all I had to do was find Avryl's room, which wasn't going to be easy since there were probably over a hundred rooms in that whole hospital. She could be in any one of them, and it could take me all night before I found -

"Aaric?"

I spun around to see a figure at the other end of the hallway, holding one of those portable I.V stands. She walked to me, with an obvious gait, and emerged out of the shadows.

My first thought was _who are you? _when I realized that the girl standing in front of me was my sister. She looked so different, it was hard to tell. Her whole face was swollen, and both eyes were black and blue, red from the blood vessels that must've popped inside the eye itself. Her lips were puffy, stale blood stained at the corners. Bruises covered her whole body, along with severeal cuts and scraps. Greif spilled through me as I swept her into my arms.

"My god, Avryl, you... you..." I stuttered to find the right words.

"Look horrible?" she suggested into my shoulder. I looked down at her.

"No," I said. "You look far from horrible. I just can't believe this happened to you." I touched one of her cheeks. "...You know... about Mom and Dad, right?"

She closed her eyes, breathing deeply. "I don't want them to be gone, Aaric. Make them come back."

I sighed and hugged her again. "I'm sorry Avryl. I want them back too." I squeezed her tight, trying to reassure her.

She looked up at me with watery blue eyes that resembled our mothers. "What's going to happen to us now?" she whispered. I sighed and shook my head.

What _was _going to happen to us? Besides Mom and Dad, we had no other family left. No uncles, no aunts. Not even grandparents or family friends. As far as I knew, we were totally alone.

"Don't worry," I told my sister. "I'm sure we'll be fine. We're going to find a home. I promise."

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly. I smiled down at her.

"Of course," I lied. "I know for a fact we'll be okay. Don't worry, at least we'll have each other."

Avryl smiled at that and hugged me tight. "I love you, Aaric," I heard her say and I burried my face in her blond hair.

"I love you too Avryl..."

We stayed like that the rest of the night, huddled together on the hallway ground hugging each other, until we eventually drifted off to sleep.

xxx

We stayed in that hospital for another week or so, until we were given the clear that we could leave. Except that in itself was troubling, seeing as that though we couldn't exactly leave to anywhere.

The hospital staff checked into our files and were saddened to see we had no family custody rights, and that we would have to be given to child protective services.

Not that I really knew what that meant.

On our last day of being at the hospital, I was given a change of clothes. Thank god; I hated those stupid blue gowns I had been forced to wear the whole time I was at the hospital. I changed into the jeans and tee-shirt with sheer happiness.

I heard a knock at my room and turned to shout that they could come in. Avryl entered [tentively], making sure I wasn't in the midst of chaning. I saw she had gotten out of her gown too.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked her, sitting down on my bed. She sat next to me. I could see her face had healed remarkably, to where she only had a couple bruises and bumps left. I knew my face was getting better too.

"Aaric, there are people out in the waiting room," she told me, sounding like she was on the verge of crying. I wrinkled my eyebrows.

"So? Of course there are people out there. It's the hospital after all," I said, trying to smile. She continued to frown.

"No... That's not what I mean. There are people here. For _us_," she said meeting my eyes. "They're going to take us away."

"What?!" I almost shouted. "How do you know? Where are they taking us to?"

"I don't know," Avryl said, crossing her arms. "I just heard them talking about two kids who's parents had died and have no one else to live with. Then this man and woman stood there, smiling, saying they were looking forward to having the new additions to their family."

"No," I said. "No, no, no..."

A man and woman? Who were they? Did we have some distant cousins we didn't know about?

I got off the bed and rushed to the door, Avryl trailing after me. I was lost in thought, wondering who these people were, that I hardly knew where I was going. With Avryl's help, we found the hospital lobby and slammed open the door, tumbling into the office.

Heads turned to stare as we stood panting and over-worked because our injuries weren't healed yet. At the reception desk, just as Avryl had said, stood a man in a crisp black suit and a woman wearing a long parka and a fox scarf around her neck. I gaped.

The woman at the reception desk, who I had gotten to know over the course of the week, stood up and smiled at the two of us.

"Aaric-chan, Avryl-chan! We were just talking about you. What a coincidence!" She beamed at us and waved her arms in a showcase manner toward the man and woman. "Meet Mr. and Mrs. Ino. As of today, they're your new par -" she stopped suddenly and cleared her throat bashfully. "Er, guardians."

"Oh, you poor babies!" the woman suddenly belted out in a dramatic voice. She rushed to our side as Avryl and I just stood there awkwardly. Mrs. Ino swooped us into her long bony arms and held us to her chest. She stunk like strong, rank perfume

"What a horrible tragedy you two have gone through," she practically sung out, sniffling. "And at such a young age! Oh, the horrible things you must have had to endure!"

I caught Avryl's eye over the lady's shoulder and knew she was having the same problem as me: Should I be laughing my head off, or running to the nearest police station? We decided on guffawing.

"Oh, and now look," Mrs. Ino said, pulling away from us. "The tragedy has gotten to their heads - Laughing in the face of waste. You poor _darlings_!"

That only made us laugh harder. It was hard to tell if this lady was all-out serious, or seriously all-out.

She stood up next to her husband and gripped his arm. "But you have nothing to fear, children. For my husband and I have bravely accepted the challange of raising two lost souls like yourselves. I hope your bags are packed, because we're going home now."

That shut up both Avryl and I.

"W-what?" I squeaked. "'Home'?"

The reception lady stepped in. "Erm, Avryl, Aaric..." She clasped her hands together. "You see, since you had no other family members, the authority thought it best to put you into the foster program. And Mr. and Mrs. Ino here were looking into children recently and saw your files... They've agreed to adopt you two."

I couldn't help it. After hearing that, I just stood there, staring at the Inos and the reception lady. Adopted? By these... people?!

I numbly felt Avryl's tiny hand grip my arm. "Aaric, what does she mean? What's adoption?"

Avryl and I were the same age, only minutes apart - and she was the older one - but I had always ben the more preceptive one. I listened in on Mom and Dad's conversations and picked up words that other seven-year-olds could only dream of. Of course Avryl couldn't understand what 'adoption' meant. But I did. And I did _not _want to explain it to Avryl.

Despite the burning frustration and rage I felt building inside me, making me want to run through the whole hospital screaming at the top of my lungs, I gulped and took a breath.

"They want us to go live with Mr. and Mrs. Ino for awhile," I told her, figuring that was the best way to break it to her.

Avryl may have been the one with lesser previous knowledge, but betwen the two of us, she was the brightest and the one who caught on quickest. It didn't take her long to understand what I meant by that.

"No," she whispered. "No... I'm not going with them. I'm not going!" She held my arm and hid behind me, face pressed into my shoulder blade. "Tell them I'm not going."

I grinned up at the couple who stared back with puzzelment. "Well, you heard the girl," I said. "She doesn't want to go and I can't just leave her here... So thanks for your offer, but we cannot accept."

"Why, you have to," Mr. Ino spoke up. "We signed a contract."

"So? Did _we _sign a contract?" I demanded, feeling Avryl grip my arm tighter.

"Aaric," she whispered.

"Here now children, you can't disobey the law," Mr. Ino said, stepping closer to us. "You're coming with us no matter how you like it."

"Oh yeah?" I challanged. I glared up at the two of them. "Watch me."

Mr. Ino gripped his hand in anger his face was trying hard not to show. Mrs. Ino only looked at me with mild surprise, mouth hanging open.

I'm not sure why I acted so stubborn like that. It wasn't usually like me. Usually, I was a good little boy who obeyed whatever he was told. But the fact that only a week after our parents died and we were getting new ones shoved into our lives made me angrier than I'd felt in a long time.

Mr. Ino frowned deeply and crossed his arms behind his back. "Accepting new parents can be hard, but it's something you're going to have to deal with." He cleared his throat and turned to the reception lady who gazed upon me and Avryl sadly. "I have already filled out paperwork with child protective services. I assume it's okay to take them now?"

"Yes, Ino-san," the woman nodded. "They have no possessions here except their old clothes, which I have with me..." She trailed off and rumaged through some boxes behind her desk. Then she handed me and Avryl bags that held our old clothes, shoes and the like, washed and almost new looking.

"If that's all, we shall be on our way!" Mrs. Ino said, throwing her scarf back over her neck. "Come along now children!"

Avryl and I stayed rooted to our spot. What could we do? We had no say in getting adopted, we couldn't stay at the hospital, we could do virtually nothing. That is, except follow Mr. and Mrs. Ino as they walked from the front lobby.

"I'm not going," I said stubbornly crossing my arms, glaring at the Ino's backs. "No way, it's not fair."

"...Aaric, what else can we do?" Avryl asked. She looked me in the eyes. "We can't run away."

"I know," I sighed, feeling like I could just scream in anger. Anger at myself, anger at the Inos, anger at the hospital people, anger at the whole universe. It wasn't _fair_.

"Let's just go with them," Avryl said finally. I turned to her in surprise.

"What?" I gasped. Her face hardened.

"What else can we do? Nothing - we have to listen to them. And, at least we'll have each other. Aaric, I don't want this to be more hard than it has to be." Her shoulders shook briefly then, like she was fighting the urge to cry. I placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, don't cry," I said, trying to muster some sort of optimism in my voice. "You're right. At least we'll have each other." I took her hand then and smiled. "...So let's just go."

She smiled at me, her blue eyes blinking back tears. I wasn't going to do anything that would make my sister cry - so I took her hand and led her out the front door of the hospital, catching up with the Inos.

Mrs. Ino turned to me as we fell in step with her. Her thin mouth turned into a frown. "Aaric, what's with this hair of yours?" I felt bony fingers brush through my hair, but not in the gentle way Mom used to do. I found myself shrinking away from Mrs. Ino.

"Tsk, tsk," she muttered, tugging at the black strands that hung to beneath my eyes. "This is too long - I'll have to cut it for you."

I yanked away from her grip. "No," I said, glaring at her. "You're not cutting my hair."

She shook her head at me. "I must, and I will. It's unhygenic for boys to have long hair."

Talk about control-freak.

"Oh, and you young dearey, April," Mrs. Ino sighed dramatically, stepping between me and my sister. I resisted the urge to slap Mrs. Ino.

"Um, my name is Avryl," Avryl said, but Mrs. Ino totally cut through her words.

"What is this you're wearing? Jeans? Nonsense, young girls always wear dresses! I promise I will help both of you be the sophisticated and classy children I know you can be!" She broke into a rediculous laugh then, making me cringe.

I caught Avryl's eye and knew she was having just a hard a time as me accepting this woman as our new "mother." Not that she would ever be that to us - not even a trusted female adult. No, Mrs. Ino was always just going to be that; some woman whose first name I didn't even know, nor did I care to know.

Mr. Ino led the three of us to his sparkling black Lamborghini, looking like he just drove it off the lot. In that instant, I knew exactly what type of people Mr. and Mrs. Ino were: arrogant, vain, and overly-rich people who don't serve a purpose except to sit there and look pretty.

I instantly hated them.

Avryl and I silently buckeled ourselves in the back of the car and I knew it was on both of our minds: the last time we did this, we lost our parents.

"Oh, you children will just _love _the estate!" Mrs. Ino called back to us from way up in the front of the car. "Wait until you see it!"

I numbly wondered if we were going to our old hosue to pick up our belongings. Probably not.

"Aaric," Avryl whispered, laying a hand over my own. I was startled to realize my own hand had curled into a tight fist, white with pressure. I uncurled it slowly. I was never a violent person, and I possesed no violent thoughts, but it was hard to keep from making fists, and even harder to resist using them aroun the Inos. And I had only known then for twen minutes, tops.

"Sorry," I whispered back, twisting my fingers with hers. "I'm just... nervous," I lied through my teeth. Avryl gave me a look but decided to drop it with a sigh.

"...I guess I'm nervous too then," she said, brushing her blond hair from her eyes. "Things are going to be different now, aren't they Aaric?"

I glanced my sister over. Within the span of a week, it seemed she had aged and matured significally. Maybe that's just what losing both your parents does to you.

"Yeah," I said, facing forward in my seat. "Things are going to be _very _different."

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And there's chapter one! I hope you guys read it all and liked it, even if you were just mildly interested. Sorry if you didn't like my choice in names for 17 and 18... I thought long and hard about names for them, and maybe it would be better if I had chosen Japanese-like names, but it is what it is. I wanted them with the same letter, and I just liked these names, and the way they were spelled... so hope you don't mind!

If you liked, then come for chapter two, which will hopefully be up soon! Thanks :3


	2. Chapter 2

**Ahhhhhhhhh I'm so sorry it took so long to update this! I knew how I wanted this chapter to come out, and I could picture it perfectly in my head but when I sat and stared at my word processer for five days, it just wouldn't come out right. I would sit to write, puke would just come all over the page and I'd get frustrated and quit.**

**But then this is what came out and I thought it wasn't as crappy as the other versions of this chapter so I went with it. I was actually listening to really weird music while writing this and I tend to get work done when I listen to that… :3**

**And I just wanted to give all those who reviewed a ginormous HUG! Thank you so much for your review, you have no idea how much that means to me! I know that's so cliché because that's what everyone says but… I didn't think this story would get as good of feedback as it has s****o thanks for that!**

**Now, I'm going to shut up and let you read… :3**

**Oooh, and looky, another quote!**

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_"__To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time."_ – Clara Ortega

xxx

The first night staying with the Inos was probably the worst night I'd ever endured. And this is coming from the boy who, at the age of seven, had lost his parents just a week ago. Even despite that, the first night… well, it could have gone better.

It started by driving miles away from Central City on a long and winding road that seemed to go on forever. Just when I thought it was going to end, a sign popped up saying "Next Exit, forty miles."

Like well-behaved children, Avryl and I sat in our seats and watched as the trees whizzed by out the window. Mr. Ino would occasionally ask us questions like, "What's your favorite T.V show?" and "What grades are you in?"

That last question really fired me up because what kind of people adopt kids and not even bother to find out what grade they're going in to?

I wanted to yell at Mr. Ino for that, and I was about to, when Avryl's words from earlier bounced into my head. "I don't want this to be harder than it has to be." That, of course, restrained me.

After an hour or so, Mr. Ino got the idea that neither Avryl nor I were in the mood for talking, which was true, so he stopped asking us stupid questions. However, for every question her husband asked, Mrs. Ino would come up with five more. No matter how hard Avryl and I tried to hint that we were not interested in playing On the Spot, she just wouldn't shut up.

By the time we drove through an ivory gate with INO inscribed at the top, I was ready to roll down the shaded window and jump out of it just so I didn't have to answer another one of Mrs. Ino's senseless questions. I swear, it was complete torture.

The Lamborghini came to a rest just outside an extremely large mansion made completely out of stone. Set around the house was an equally large, lush green lawn filled with tons of flowers and shrubs cut to look like various objects. It looked like one of those mansions you only see in magazines of houses for rich people. Then again, that's kind of what Mr. and Mrs. Ino were.

As soon as we were parked, men in tailored suits rushed to open our doors. I glared at the man as he did so, as if it was his fault that my sister and I were being forced to live here. In a way, he was. By opening that door, it was like opening a portal into a new life. And stepping out of the door meant I accepted it.

And I did not accept it.

I hesitated as I swung my feet around to slide out of the car. I really didn't want to set foot on the stoned-and-gold driveway, let alone walk into that house, but then I felt Avryl push me from behind and I stumbled forth and almost landed on all fours on the ground before I caught myself.

"Oops, sorry!" Avryl apologized hastily as she hopped out behind me. "I didn't mean to shove you!"

"It's fine," I muttered, regaining my balance. I was just about to say something else when Mrs. Ino stepped in between us.

"Come now children! It's time for you to meet your new fate!" she said dramatically. I looked up at her; I didn't like the sound of that. "…It's time for you two to choose your new rooms!"

Oh, well, if that was it…

"In fact, we have so many that you can have four bedrooms, each! Isn't it just marvelous?" She beamed at me. "Go right on in and choose one to your liking, won't you?"

If the prospect of having four bedrooms was supposed to cheer me up, it failed miserably. Instead, I took Avryl's hand and together we back away from Mrs. Ino and walked up the stone steps to the front door.

Like back at the car a man opened the door for us without saying a word, and I glared at him too. He quickly avoided eye contact.

What struck me first about the house was the sound – or lack thereof. It was completely silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop. Back at our old home, Dad would always have some radio playing in the house, or Mother would be singing as she worked, or a T.V was at least running. Here, it was like you plugged your ears up with wax. Already I could tell I wasn't going to enjoy living here.

Avryl and I just stared in awe at the interior of the mansion, heads hung back on our neck, mouth slightly open. There was so much to look at – gold-plated pieces of art, a pristine chandelier hanging above, sparkling vases placed atop stands. And this was only the entrance hall.

"This place seems… expensive," Avryl said after a moment. I laughed.

"That's putting it gently." I looked at her. "Better not break anything." As I said that, I crept toward a blue and purple vase and held a finger out with a daring grin on my face. Avryl's eyes widened.

"Aaric… you wouldn't," she said as her eyes darted back forth between my face and finger which was inching ever so closer. "Aaric!"

Just as I was about to tip the thing over, Mrs. Ino stepped through the threshold. My hand snapped back to my side faster than a bullet.

"You children are still here?" she asked, surprised. "The rooms are up on the third floor!"

Third floor? How many floors were there?

Mrs. Ino pointed to a spiraling staircase. "Just up there, and then up another flight of stairs, you'll find the bedrooms. Choose which ever you dearies want, okay?"

"Thanks" is all I said before stomping up the stairs. Avryl trailed my heels quickly.

"You know where you're going?" my sister asked, falling in step with me as we escalated the stairs. I shrugged.

"Not really, but anywhere away from her is okay with me," I said coldly.

"You don't really like them, do you?" Avryl asked. "Mr. and Mrs. Ino, I mean."

"Of course not!" I said, rather too abrasively. Avryl winced slightly. "I mean, they're trying to replace Mom and Dad. And they're… they're too proper."

Avryl didn't say anything as we landed on the second floor and made our way to yet another staircase across the hall. I wondered why they didn't just have an elevator installed.

"…Well, I don't like them either," she finally said. "But I'm not going to be mean to them. After all, things could be worse. We could be in one of those orphan places."

"Orphanage?" I suggested. She nodded. "Yeah, I guess we could be. But I'm not going to pretend to like them if I don't. That's lying, and Mom always told us not to lie."

Avryl didn't say anything to that.

We eventually made it to the third floor, panting with the effort it took to get up those last stairs. Really, how tall do you have to make a house?

…Mrs. Ino was right when she said about the amount of rooms. There were enough to house all of Central City. Even so, Avryl and I both agreed anything more than one room was overkill and decided on a pair of rooms far away from the staircase and woven away in the maze of hallways. Avryl left to explore her own, so I did the same and shut the door behind me.

The place was large, larger than my old room, with a tall windows against one wall showcasing a view of the forest that surrounded the estate. Even though I wish I could say I hated it along with every other thing that had to do with the Inos, I couldn't complain about the view.

I layed my bag of clothes on the made bed and looked around some more. Just a simple dresser, closet and flat-screen T.V. Nothing real special. But that was okay, it didn't have to be anything other than that.

I exhaled loudly and flopped onto my back, staring at the cracks on the ceiling. Was it just that morning I woke up in the hospital? That felt like ages ago. Funny how that works.

Something tugged at the back of my mind, as if fighting for attention. Thinking for a moment, I realized what that thing was – tomorrow was the day Avryl and I would turn eight years old. I remember a couple weeks before, Avryl and I had sneakily brought up the subject of birthdays to Mom and Dad and practically begged to have our party at the newly opened skating rink. After some contemplation, Mom and Dad agreed to let us have our party there.

With the way things were going, I doubted Mr. and Mrs. Ino even know what age we were then.

I remembered Mrs. Ino saying something about getting lunch after we picked out our rooms, but I wasn't really hungry. Especially if it meant sitting at a table while Mrs. Ino just drilled us with questions.

I closed my eyes with a sigh and tried to relax…

I must've fallen asleep because when my eyes opened again, the sun had sunk beneath the tree line, lighting up my room with an eerie golden color.

Rubbing my eyes, I sat up and looked around. At first, I was confused until I remembered where I was. Oh yeah. How could I forget?

I pushed myself to my feet and stalked to my door, opening it without a sound. Across the hall, Avryl's door was open and she was nowhere inside so I figured she must've drifted downstairs or something.

Which made me mad. Why didn't she wake me up? Why didn't she come get me? Was she more interested in the Ino's than me?

I stomped down the stairs in such a loud way, I'm sure someone would scold me for it if they were around. However, even as I landed on the bottom floor, I couldn't find anyone. Not the Inos, not Avryl, not even a single butler or something. That's weird…

I walked past the vase I almost tipped over, and into a large room with a marble fireplace and various heads of game hanging on the walls. Staring up into their dead eyes, I shuddered. Something felt… off.

"…Aaric?"

I jumped at my name, and whirled around in one heartbeat. Avryl stood there, looking at me with large blue eyes. The golden from the setting sun reflected off her face, making it hard to see her clearly.

"Oh, Avryl, it's just you. You're scared me," I admitted, running a hand through my long black hair. I smiled a bit. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

She remained silent and started walking closer to me. The smile dropped from my face as I noticed what she was wearing – her blue hospital gown. I crinkled my brows.

"Um, Avryl… why are you wearing that?" I asked quietly. She said nothing. "…Avryl, are you okay?"

"Aaric…" she breathed, her voice echoing around the room. "Why…? Why would you do this to me?"

She was standing in front of me then. And now that she was, I could see her face. Beaten and broken, just like she was after the car crash. Swollen lips, black eyes, cuts and scrapes and stitches. I gasped and backed up.

"Avryl… W-what happened to you? What…?"

Her hands reached for me then, fingers curling tightly around my shirt. I tried shoving her away but she wouldn't budge.

"Aaric, you made me like this. It's your fault. My face is ruined. It's your fault," she whispered angrily. "This is all your fault."

My muscles froze as a sudden screeching of tires rang through my ears. A screech that sounded oh-so familiar.

I turned just in time as a black sports car crashed through the wall of the house, heading straight towards me….

"NO!" I screamed as I shot up in my bed, panting hard. Sweat glistened from my forehead and dripped past my eyebrows.

I looked around to see I was still on my bed in the Ino house, and the sun was setting but not like before. It was more of a gentle yellow color, not that orange light from my dream.

A dream. That's what that was. Just a nightmare. It wasn't real. Avryl didn't look like that anymore, and I'm far away from the sports car…

I numbly noticed my fingers holding onto the bed sheets in fear and forced them to relax. It wasn't real, it was all just a dream. Just a dream.

Someone tapped on my bedroom door, breaking me from my thoughts. Before I could answer, Avryl pushed my door open and poked her head in. Much to my relief, her face was healed and normal again.

"Hey, Aaric, it's dinnertime. Let's go eat…" She trailed off and entered my room completely. "Erm, are you okay? You look pale."

"Huh? Oh - yeah," I said, giving my head a quick shake. "Just dreaming."

Avryl gave me a onceover before shrugging. "If that's it then… Can we go eat now? I'm starving!"

"Nah, I'm not really hungry - " I began to say but was interrupted by my stomach which let out a horrible guttural groan. Avryl grinned knowingly.

"Sure you aren't, Aaric," she said, marching in front of me. She took hold of my hand and pulled me up.

"Hey, what are you - "

"Come on, Aaric! I'm hungry!" she exclaimed while she pulled me out the door, me more-or-less stumbling over my feet.

Before I knew it, I was being yanked down the stairs and forced into what would probably be the most awkward dinner ever.

xxx

"So, children, tell me," Mrs. Ino asked as she dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a napkin. I rolled my eyes. Here we go again…

"What are some things you two like to do?"

I glanced at Avryl, my eyes telling her, "You first." There was just no way I was answering Mrs. Ino's twelve billionth question for the day. Avryl frowned at me quickly before turning to Mrs. Ino.

"Well," she started, "I like coloring and singing… I also like to play dress up."

Mrs. Ino's face brightened. "You do? Oh, that's simply magnificent! See, I just knew there had to be more to you than those jeans and that drab shirt of yours! Beneath that rough exterior is a girl just begging to be set free! I can do that for you, you know, set her free. Oh, it'd be a wonderful project!"

Even from where I sat across the table I could see Avryl gulp and the sweat drip from her forehead. "Um… Thanks, I guess?"

"Oh, my pleasure!" she chirped. "After all, I did win many beauty pageants in my day. I can make you pretty too, Avryl-chan. Oh, yes. I can see it now; turning that boring and simply drab face of yours into a masterpiece! Oh, I can't wait when I can get to work!"

As she said it, I felt heat rush to my cheeks. In simplex terms, I think Mrs. Ino just called my sister ugly. And I had a problem with that.

I opened my mouth to say something equally as rude and disrespectful to Mrs. Ino, probably about how her plastic surgery makes her look like a whoopee cushion. Before I could, I felt Avryl's eye boring into my head. I turned to look at her to see she was shaking her head ever so slightly.

"Don't," she mouthed. "Don't start with them."

I gave her a look that meant, Are you sure? and she nodded. "It's not worth it," she mouthed. I clamped my mouth shut and crossed my arms, sinking down in my seat. Sometimes, it's very handy for my sister to somehow know every thought and feeling I have, but other times I wish she didn't. Because I really wanted to let Mrs. Ino have it.

Too smitten with her "beauty skills," Mrs. Ino didn't even notice my and Avryl's wordless exchange and kept prattling off about girly things. I cursed my luck – out of all the people in the world, why did we have to get stuck with these people? These conceited, vain and arrogant people?

Mr. Ino swallowed some water and turned to look at me. "So, Aaric, do you play any sports?"

I stopped picking at my corn and set my fork down. Sports? I was never one for physical exercise, nonetheless sports.

"No, I don't," I said. "I don't really like any of them."

At that, Mr. Ino's face wrinkled. "Well," he said after some thought. "No son of mine is going to refrain from participating in sports! I'll have you signed up in any which one you want by tomorrow, deal?"

"No, actually, I'd rather just not -"

"Nonsense!" Mr. Ino bellowed. "Of course you would! Baseball, football, soccer… Hell, I'll even sign you up for tennis if that's what you want!" He was grinning at me, but not warmly. Not like Dad would. More of a you'd-better-agree-with-me type of smile. I gripped my spoon.

"I appreciate it, Mr. Ino, but I really don't want to play any sports. Thank you anyway," I gritted through clenched teeth. Mr. Ino's smile dropped quicker than lightning and he placed his knife on his plate with a clink. Mrs. Ino and Avryl both turned to look at the two of us, ending their own conversation.

"Actually, you might find that you have no other choice but to do as I tell you," he asserted in a chilly voice through the silence. "I don't know what kind of place you lived in before – maybe your low-life parents let you speak back to them – but that's not the way this house operates, understand? You listen to what I and your mother tell you, got it?"

Before I knew it, I had thrown my spoon onto my plate. The sound echoed throughout the room like a thousand bombs. I stood from my chair, the feet scrapping loudly across the tiles.

"My parents were not lowlifes!" I shouted at Mr. Ino. "They were, and always will be, ten BILLION times better than you'd ever be! And you aren't my father, and she isn't my mother!" I thrust a finger in Mrs. Ino's direction. I couldn't even see her – my vision was too blurred with anger. I could barely see Avryl cupping her face with her palms. I could barely even see colors anymore. "And NO ONE tells me what to do!"

With that, I kicked my chair out from behind me and ran back towards the staircase. I passed a couple servants who just backed away from me. Good, let them think I'm some delinquent. I didn't care.

When I reached the staircase, I sprinted up it faster than I'd ever done before. Too fast, really, because I tripped over my own feet and my chin slammed into the edge of the stairs. Tears of pain welled up in the corner of my eyes as I pushed myself back to my feet and crawled up the stairs.

"Aaric! Aaric, please come back!" I heard someone shout. Was it Avryl? I didn't even know.

Somehow, through the pain and disorientation and shuddering angst, I made it to my room. Slamming the door shut as hard as I could, I collapsed on my sheets in a ball.

I hated crying. I really did. I made my throat swell up and my eyes sting and head pound. Not to mention it was totally girlish.

But at that moment, I didn't really care. All the pressure from the past couple days had just built up inside of me without any proper release and I needed it to get out.

And so I cried.

Hard.

Somewhere in between the hiccups and snivels, I heard my door open and someone sit next to me, wrapping their arms around my body. Avryl. I could tell. She smelled like Mom did.

It calmed me just enough to stop sobbing like a baby and resort to pushing my face into my knees and clamming up. I could feel Avryl rest her head on my side, breaths even with mine. I didn't really mind; it was probably better she was with me.

I hated this. I hated it more than I'd ever hated anything in my life. And I wasn't the kid to hate things. For as long as I'd known myself, I never wanted any harm to come upon anyone. I never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings. I never wanted anyone to get hurt because of me.

In that moment, crying because the Inos made me, I wanted them to hurt. I wanted them to hurt as much as I did.

That was the only thing I cared about.

xxx

TO BE CONTINUED LATER!

Nahhh, just kidding.

xxx

The next morning, I woke to someone bouncing on my stomach repeatedly. I groaned and opened my eyes to see Avryl acting like my tummy was some sort of trampoline. What the….?

I jerked and shoved her off to where she fell to the floor with a loud oof. I shot up in bed, looking concernedly at the floor where she fell.

"Oops, Avryl I didn't mean to shove you!" I exclaimed. "It was an accident!"

She lay on the floor for a couple seconds before shooting up and wrapping her arms around my neck, laughing like crazy. I gasped and grabbed the bed sheets to keep from toppling over myself but it was useless; she pulled me over the side of the bed and to the floor with her.

Okay… ouch.

"Avryl, what the heck are you - " I began to say.

"Happy birthday!" she squealed at the top of her lungs, grinning at me. I rubbed my head. Happy… birthday…? It suddenly hit me - Oh, yeah, I forgot! It's our birthday!

I smiled and wrapped an arm around her neck, pulling her closer to me so I could run my knuckles over her scalp. She squirmed and squealed, trying to get away from me. "Aaric, stop, that hurts!"

I released her only to have her pounce on me and hug me. "We're eight years old now!" she nearly screamed. I didn't even mind that she was screaming in my ear or kneeing me in the stomach – it meant she was happy, which was fine by me. Better that than like last night… I didn't even want to think about that.

"Come on, come on!" she said, trying to hoist me to my feet. "I'm hungry! Let's go eat!"

"You're always hungry," I muttered jokingly as I stood up. She slugged me in my arm.

"Is there a problem with that?" she asked, looking at me with her razor eyes. I ruffled her hair and didn't answer her, much to her annoyance. Instead I bent over, giving her access to my back.

"Hop on, I'll carry you," I offered. Forgetting her prior irritation she inhaled delightedly and climbed atop me. I stood up, gripping her tightly so she wouldn't fall, and pushed off the bed and ran to the door, Avryl laughing in my ear. Despite what happened last night, I actually found genuine contentment in hearing my sister laugh again.

We roared down the hallway, laughing and giggling, and then jumped down the stairs, sounding like thunder clapping across the sky. A couple servants stopped to stare but then shook their heads like it didn't matter and went back to their business.

Holding her securely, we ran to the kitchen where I dumped her from my back. She toppled to the floor, laughing too hard to wince in pain. I stood above her grinning.

"Thank your for riding today, please come again," I said. She giggled as I turned to the extremely large fridge and popped it open, marveling at all the food. I was just about to pull a tub of ice cream out when an angry voice rang out throughout the whole universe.

"And what do you two think you're doing?!"

I froze in midair, hand wrapped around the tub, and Avryl stopped laughing immediately. We both turned to look at a rather frazzled Mrs. Ino, hair affray and green goop smeared across her face, and a seething Mr. Ino, pajama's wrinkled from slumber. I restrained from kicking the freiza shut (LOL, see what I did there ;D).

"What do you two think you're doing?!" roared Mr. Ino again, face alight with something like anger, only magnified by about 1000%.

"Um, getting something to eat?" I tried. Mr. Ino shook his head.

"No, back upstairs! Making that god-awful racket! Kami, are you two animals or something?!" he shouted. Avryl hid behind my leg and I didn't blame her - Mr. Ino was really losing it.

"We were just playing…" Avryl tried to say but he stomped his foot.

"People in this house are trying to sleep! You need to respect that and tone it down by about a hundred!" she shouted some more. Mrs. Ino layed a hand on her husband's shoulder but he shook her off. "You two must have been raised with no manners whatsoever!"

Okay. That was the law straw. I really did slam the freezer shut.

"Oh yeah?" I countered. "What do you know about how we were raised?"

"I know for sure that however you were raised, it was the incorrect way of being raised. Children should be seen and not heard. Were you never taught that?!" he shouted, stomping toward the two of us. I back up and Avryl whimpered quietly.

"My parents never taught me that because that's not why they believed in," I found myself shouting back. "And I still don't believe in it!"

"Why you little…" Mr. Ino wound his hand back sharply and for a brief second, I was genuinely afraid he was going to slap me. I braced myself, waiting for the hand to land itself across my cheek but nothing happened.

I opened my eyes to see he was standing above me, hand still behind his head ready to slap or hit or punch, but Mrs. Ino had grabbed him and kept him from doing so. For once, I was thankful Mrs. Ino was actually there.

"Akifumi, stop it," she said, pulling his hand back down. "Don't hit him."

Mr. Ino was breathing heavily and his face was beet red and he was scaring me because I was afraid he would lash out and hit me, or Avryl, or both of us.

"Akifumi… calm down," Mrs. Ino was saying, trying to get her husband under control. "Please, just calm down."

Mr. Ino turned to her. "Karin, get your coat. We're leaving."

"Leaving?" she echoed. "…Where are we going?"

"Just get your coat!" he barked, making me jump. His voice was so loud, it scared me. Then he turned his black eyes on me. "You two, go get your belongings. Now."

"W-what…?" I choked. "What are we doing?"

"I said go get your things!" he shouted, yanking me by the front of my shirt. Avryl screamed and held onto my leg and between her and Mr. Ino yanked me forward, I fell to the ground, twisting my ankle while doing so. I gasped in pain and recoiled, backing up against my sister.

"Akifumi!" Mrs. Ino screamed. "Stop it!"

"Go to your rooms and get your things and be down here in exactly two minutes or I really will hit you!" shouted Mr. Ino, eyes burning with fire. I could feel Avryl shaking and I would be too if I wasn't too scared to even think to shake.

But his threat itemized in my head and I really had no desire to be hit, so I stood up and limped well away from Mr. Ino, Avryl glued to my backside. We crept along the perimeter of the kitchen and finally out the archway all while keeping our eyes trained on Mr. Ino in case he leapt at us. It wouldn't be surprising if he did.

Once we were out of the kitchen, we took off running to the stairs. Well, hobbling was more of the right word. Apparently the twist to my ankle did more damage than I thought. Thankfully Avryl let me wrap and arm around her shoulder and balance on her as we made our way up the stairs.

"Aaric, were are we going?" she asked in my ear, voice frightened and scared. I was too dizzy to hear her properly so she had to repeat herself, practically yelling. I leaned my head against her shoulder.

"I have no idea," I admitted, taking another step.

"Are they going to hurt us?" she asked abruptly, voice thick with emotion.

"No," I said in the most solid tone I could. "They aren't. I'll make sure of that."

Up at the top floor, we quickly grabbed our bag of clothes and hobbled back downstairs. Once we got to the front door, Mr. and Mrs. Ino were standing there, dressed in long parkas. Mrs. Ino seemed to be highly upset by something but if Mr. Ino was upset too, we didn't let on. All he did was shove me out the front door roughly. Outside, the air was freezing cold and the clouds above were gray and thick with unshed raindrops.

We retraced our steps back to the black Lamborghini and Avryl and I crawled into the back. A thousand thoughts were running through my mind: what was going on? Where were we going? What was going to happen to us?

Mr. Ino started the car and quickly pulled out of the driveway at top speed. I wasn't even buckled in properly by the time the car roared past the INO gate and down the road we had just drove on the day before.

We drove in deafening silence, the only noise being the whirring of tires and the slight pattering of rain on the windows which was beginning to fall. Avryl pulled her legs up to her chin and rested her head on her knees, staring out the window. I did the same and tried to calm myself down. I should have been furious at Mr. Ino for laying his hands on me and shoving me the way he did, but really, I was too nervous and terrified to think straight.

Hours felt like minutes as we drove down the winding road, the rain falling harder and harder until we finally entered West City's city limits. Tall buildings rose up around us, blotting out the dark sky and enveloping the car in darkness. I shuddered.

After a couple minutes of driving, we finally pulled into the parking lot of some low to the ground building. It looked downtrodden and in dire need of repair, ugly and unwelcoming.

Mr. Ino pulled the car to a stop and shut off the engine. Confused, I looked to the building through the pouring rain and my stomach did a complete nosedive.

There were automatic glass doors inlaid in the front of the building, illuminated by lights that cut through the gray rain. And above them was the distinct metal letters spelling out WEST CITY ORPHANAGE.

I started hyperventilating. Orphanage? Orphans…? We were going to be orphans…? They were getting rid of us…?

It didn't take long before Avryl realized where we were because she too started freaking out, squirming in her seat and throwing the seatbelt from her body, eyes alight with panic. We both turned to look up at Mr. Ino who glared at the two of us.

"Get out," he ordered coldly. I froze.

"Now, Akifumi… don't you think you're being a bit over-dramatic?" Mrs. Ino squeaked from the passenger seat. He glared at her too.

"No, actually I don't." He turned back to the two of us. "Get. Out."

"…You can't just do this," I said, starting to tremble. "You can't just get rid of us like this."

"Oh yeah? Watch me," he replied and with a stroke of a button somewhere up on the dash board, our doors popped open. Cold rain lashed in at us, soaking me almost instantly. With another glare and a "Get. Out!" Avryl and I slid out of our seats and into the chilling rain. He closed the door again and locked them before peeling out of the parking lot like a lunatic.

Avryl and I stood there, shivering in the cold as our matching hair flattened into our eyes. Avryl turned to look at me and were those raindrops on her cheeks, or were they tears?

Without saying a word, we both turned solemnly to the orphanage and stared at it with looming dread.

Happy birthday.

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**Sooooo, whaddya think? Any good? You likey? It's kinda a shame that I had posted this after I had realized Akria-sensei had released Seventeen and Eighteen's real names… Otherwise I would've went canon and stuck with those names but oh well. :3 Besides VC18 has told me that Avryl and Aaric were better names anyway so thank you for that, VC18! XD**

**Come check back in periodically for chapter three, which with (hopefully) be up in three-five days! :3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay guys, I wrote this chapter while high on a sugar rush, totally sleep deprived and, yet again, listening to weird music… O.o Scatman songs…. Uh, yeah…. So I'm not really sure how it came out… :/ And you know something? I'm waaaaay to lazy to go back through and re-read it all… **

**Also, THANNNNKKKK YOU SOOOOO MUCCCHHHH FOR THOSE REVIEWSSSS! I really appreciate every single one of your feedbacks… It really motivates me to write! So thank you so much! ****And to Guest who suggested 18 being more mature… I hope this is okay! I had written the chapter before I saw your review… but hopefully this'll be good enough XD And if it isn't I'll be sure to fix that in up coming chapters! I have big plans for this... BIG PLANS! :D**

**Anyway, here's chapter three! Enjoy it! And because I've already done it twice, might as well do it again… ;)**

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_"__We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone." _\- Orson Welles

_xxx_

Imagine feeling alone. So alone, that no one in this world cares for you. Not one little bit. Not a single living soul.

Now, imagine that… but times ten. That's just a fraction of how alone Avryl and I felt when Mr. Bastard – er, sorry, _Mr. Ino_ – dumped us off at that orphanage. We stood there shivering in the rain, drenched from head to toe, as the black sports car peeled away and disappeared behind a row of buildings.

I was shocked, to say the least. I mean, we had only been with them for… it hadn't even been a full day yet! Not a full 24 hours! And already they were getting rid of us? What kind of people do that? Were they _trying_ to make us feel unloved, not that we weren't already?!

"Aaric… calm down," Avryl had said, breaking me out of my thoughts. I noticed her hand was wrapped around mine, which was balled in a tight fist. I hadn't even realized I was making one. "…It's okay, just calm down…"

I gritted my teeth, trying oh-so hard not to lose it and scream up at the crying sky. I was so angry… angry at the Ino's for what they did. And not necessarily because _I_ would have to suffer abandonment… Avryl would too. My sister, who didn't even know what adoption meant just a few days ago. What kind of brother would want his sister to have to feel the pain of abandonment?

"Avryl, I'm sorry," I said quietly, glancing at the ground. "This is my fault."

"Your fault?" she echoed. "What? This wasn't your fault!"

"Yeah, it was," I said, looking up at her. "If I would've just kept my mouth shut and done what the Ino's had said… we wouldn't be standing here." I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

Her eyes crinkled and she held my hand tighter. "The Inos were monsters. It's better that we're not with them anymore… And this isn't your fault!"

"Being with the Inos is better than being with no one," I told her, pulling away from her hand. Gods, I didn't want to take my anger out on Avryl, but I couldn't keep the bitterness out of my voice. She just looked at me.

"You know what Aaric?" She crossed her arms. "You can think whatever you want to – either this is your fault or it isn't. But it doesn't matter because we're here now – _together_. We'll be okay, I'll be okay, because I have you, my little brother."

I looked at her then and managed to smile. The rain dripped down onto my face, my black hair flattening into my eyes as Avryl's did the same. I took her hand and pushed my hair out of my face.

"You're right. And you always will have me," I said, tightening my grip on her hand. "…Let's go inside. We're both drenched."

With that, we sloshed off to the automatic glass doors and slumped inside the building, eager to get out of the pouring rain. A woman sat behind a desk, reading a book, and hardly even looked up whence we came in. Kids walking in soaking wet must not be a new occurrence to her.

"Um…. Hi…" I started to say to her once we got to the desk. "Me and my sis - "

"Fill these out," the woman droned, handing us two clip boards. I took one and Avryl the other. "Hand them back when you're done."

"Um… thanks," I muttered and turned to take a seat at some of the chairs scattered about the lobby. Avryl sat next to me and clicked her pen, looking at the clip board.

"….Aaric, what does DOB mean?" she whispered. I looked at my own papers.

"Um, I think it means… um… difference of…. Uh… Just put 'I don't know,'" I said, scratching the same thing down in my DOB section. She shrugged and did the same.

I continued to read over the questions, writing down what I thought was the best answer because like I knew what blood type was when I was eight. When it got to asking my full name, I just stared at the paper. I could very well put down my whole name, the one I was given at birth… But technically didn't I belong to the Inos then? So should I have written Aaric Ino?

The thought of having to carry around that disgusting name made me almost vomit, so I just decided to put _Aaric_ and that was it.

"Okay, all finished," Avryl said and stacked her papers together. "I just put, 'I'm not sure,' on every question besides my name."

"Me too," I confessed and stood up, water dripping to the floor with little rhythmic _splish-splashes_.

We walked to the lady and handed her the papers which were sort of wet after us handling them. She took them between her finger tips like they were radioactive or something and glanced them over. She made an annoyed noise with her tongue and looked up at the two of us from behind her glasses.

"Are you saying you don't know the date of your birth?" she asked. I frowned.

"Um, was that what DOB was?" I asked. The lady snorted.

"Whatever, just tell me when you were born and we'll call it even, okay?" She sounded like she had so many better things to do, and eat cat litter was among the list.

I proceeded to tell her my and Avryl's birthday and when she did, she looked at us funny and then to her computer screen.

"…That's today you know," she said, stapling the papers together.

"We know," Avryl said. "We know exactly what day it is."

"Nice birthday gift, yeah?" the lady muttered. Avryl and I just shrugged. "Okay, well, let me show you two to your rooms. I'm assuming you would like to share one?"

"Yes, please," I answered and made room so the woman could squeeze out from behind her desk. She inhaled once at full height and began to click-clack down the hall, high heels echoing off the walls. Avryl and I looked at each other before following.

"West City Orphanage is a wonderful place for both boys and girls alike to be raised in comfort when left with no other alternative," she said over her shoulder. It sounded much like those infomercials on T.V. Complete with blatant lies in every word.

"Here, you can express yourself without ever worrying about being bullied, as we have a fine atmosphere that encourages children to be successes rather than bullies. You will find that you can move about freely from day-to day tasks like…" she droned on and on, but I tuned her out and looked at Avryl.

"Are you really buying all this?" I asked her. She snorted like that was funny.

"I think by 'fine atmosphere' she means that it's a fine place for bullies to torment people," she said quietly.

"You may be right," I replied and followed the woman down a hall lined with doors. At the very end of the hall, the wall was sheer glass, lighting the hall up in gray light from the rainy sky. Our shadows cast odd figure against the walls, and I almost shivered. It was kind of creepy.

"Here is your room," the lady said, stopping at the very last door, next to the window-wall. She pushed the door open and let us step inside. The room was small – definitely not like the Ino's rooms… And for some reason I found that comforting.

"Make yourselves at home, because who knows how long you'll be here for," the woman said. "Anyway, there's clothes in that closet, I'm sure you two will find something. Until we can get clothes fit for you two, you'll have to deal with those. However, I must return to some very important work up at the front desk so I'll leave you two to settle in. There's a rec room back down this hall to the right. You can't miss it. So have fun."

The woman was just about to leave the threshold when suddenly she turned back and looked at the two of us. "Oh, and… welcome to West City Orphanage."

With that, she was gone.

"She was… nice," Avryl remarked. I threw my clothes on one of the beds and shrugged.

"Yeah well… You want to go to that rec room?" I asked.

"Why not? Maybe we can meet some new friends!" she said, smiling. Leave it to Avryl to be optimistic. Still, what the woman said before was bugging me… _"Who knows how long you'll be here for…"_

Did that mean we'd be there for a long time? I didn't want to be… But then again, I didn't want to get adopted and risk ending up with another Ino family… In fact, I didn't even know what I wanted. I was so confused, and I really just didn't want to think about it. So instead, I nodded at Avryl and agreed.

"Great! Let's just dry off and head over there," she said and turned to the closet full of clothes. "Hmmm… now, I wonder how good their fashion sense is….."

xxx

Okay, you know that feeling you get when you're late to class and you run in three minutes after the bell rings? Everyone is already sitting down, doing their work or talking to their friends, and then you come through the door; they all stop what they're doing and look at you like you're some kind of radioactive creature that just crawled from the dumpster behind a nuclear power plant.

In other words – a complete and utter loser who has no idea what you're supposed to be doing.

That's exactly how I felt when I pushed open the doors to the rec room.

Everybody immediately stopped whatever they were doing and all eyes fell onto me standing in the doorframe, my sister clinging closely to my side. I numbly noted that everybody was between the age of seven and seventeen – and none looked welcoming.

_I should say something_, I thought to myself as everybody glowered at me. Something to break the ice. After all, these will be the people I'll be spending the most time with from here on out… And Mom always said be nice to those you first meet to make a good impression.

I opened my mouth, probably to smile or something, but at the last second I decided against it and my face screwed into some sort of ugly grimace thing that I'm sure didn't look good. Well, so much for great first impressions.

One kid, probably twelve or so, pushed himself from a chair and criss-crossed his way to where I stood. He crossed his arms and cocked his head back, staring at me with calculating gray eyes. I found myself standing taller, trying my best to match his height.

Then his eyes switched to Avryl who suddenly let go of my arm and stood a couple inches from me. I noticed her hands on her lips, almost casually. The older kid snorted and looked back to me.

"Who the hell are you two?" he demanded, chewing something in his mouth. I stood a little taller.

"My name's Aaric, and she's Avryl," I told him, motioning to my sister. The kid nodded slowly and continued to chew whatever he had in his mouth.

"…So, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"We were thrown out," I explained to him, to which his mouth turned into a deep upside-down smile.

"I wasn't asking _you_," he spat. Then he turned and leaned right in Avryl's face. "I was asking this one..." He smirked and jabbed a finger into Avryl's chest. Within a millisecond I was in between them and smacking his hand away.

"Don't touch her," I snapped then added, "I don't know where your hands have been." I glanced at them, noting how dirt-smeared and black they were.

The kid turned to some of his friends who all grinned at him. "Get a load of this guy," he chuckled. "Little boy want to protect his sissy?"

I swear, it's times like that that I wished I was at least three inches taller.

"Maybe I do," I countered, trying not to twist my hands to fists. _Think clearly_, I told myself. _Don't do anything stupid._

"Hmmmm…." The kid muttered. He winked at his friends. "…I wonder what little boy would do if something were to happen to his sissy?" With a snap of his fingers, some kid wearing orange-tinted goggles grabbed Avryl and pulled her arms behind her. She screamed in anger and started trashing like a mouse ensnared in a trap.

And me? I would have gone and socked the guy right in the face if I wasn't busy getting kicked in the stomach and thrown to the floor.

I blinked a few times, feeling the cold tiles beneath me. I've never been hit like that before – and the pain was worse than I'd imagined it would be. Avryl's screams rang in my ears and I pushed myself onto an elbow, coughing and wheezing.

"Aaric, help me!" shrieked Avryl, being pulled back by Goggles. I growled and tried to push myself up only to feel another foot lodge into my stomach. I gasped and fell onto my side, holding the spot where I was kicked yet again. God, what were those guys' problems? Who beats up on an eight year old and holds his sister hostage?! So much for a bully-free atmosphere!

"Aaric!" Avryl screamed again. "Please! Help!"

I opened my eyes to see that she was being slammed against the wall, held in place by Goggle's stupid hands. She squirmed against it, trying to get away, but she was much smaller than the boy, and not to mention much weaker.

The lead boy, the one who had been kicking me, stepped in front of me effectively blocking my view of my writhing sister. His ugly sneering face loomed down on me while the screams of helplessness filled the air.

And you know what was so bad about this?

That nobody, not a single living soul, was trying to intervene and stop what was happening. They all just sat there, watching us like it was the World Martial Arts Tournament or something. Which really made me livid. What were they? Shameless cowards?

I pushed myself first onto my knees and then to my feet, holding my stomach which was for sure going to bruise. I scowled at the leader who smirked back at me.

"Oooh, so little boy gets really upset when we mess with his sis, guess we know that now," he sneered, laughing it up with his friends. I gritted my teeth and made a fist. Him calling me 'little boy' was getting old.

He turned back to me and noticed my fuming face. He laughed. "Are you going to cry now?" he taunted. "Gunna go cry to your mommy? Oh wait – you don't have one of those anymore, do you?"

Without thinking, my fist connected with his cheek.

He made a startled noise and fell back against his two friends who stared at me with amazement. I guess they didn't actually think I'd fight back. I didn't think I would either.

The leader cupped his face where I punched him, eyes wide with something like a mix of fear and fascination. His friends helped him to his feet again and he backed up a couple feet.

"Woah," he muttered. "Y-you hit me…" He shook his head to clear it. "…How dare you?"

The weight of what I did just set in on me. I just punched a kid who is bigger than me, stronger than me, and older than me. I might've got lucky punching him that first time, but now he was going to let me have it.

Just when I thought my life was over and he was going to punch my lights out, a rather familiar blond figure jumped in his way and grabbed his advancing fist with a scream of, "Stop it!"

Almost immediately all the sound around the room stopped and the leader guy took a step back, shoving Avryl off of him. She fell back and glared at him.

"Leave him alone," she said evenly, not a trace of fear in her voice like a couple seconds ago. She tightened her fists. "Leave _us_ alone."

The leader guy chewed at a corner of his lip, glowering at my blond sister with pure malice. Some of his friends were grabbing him by the arm and saying things like, "C'mon, Michael. Leave her alone," and, "It's not worth it."

However, Michael had other plans.

He stepped towards Avryl with footsteps that echoed through the whole room like bombs. When he closed the gap between them, and Avryl was trying hard not to shake in his shadow, he wound a solid fist back and drove it right into Avryl's face.

Without thinking, I was up and butting Avryl out of my way to take her place as Michael's knuckles struck my cheek with such force that brought tears to my eyes. And before I knew it, my own balled hand was flying in front of me. I felt it sink into something soft, like a cheek or neck or something.

Immediately both of us withdrew, holding our sores, scowling at one another. Michael was the first to speak.

"You stupid brat! You hit me again! You son of a - " He charged at me, both fists raised, before one of his friends grabbed hold of him.

"Michael, calm down! He's just going to hit you again," he shouted, yanking Michael away. I stood there watching him and, just to prove his friend's point, I raised both my fists and smiled at him. Michael snarled and writhed against his friends' restraining hands.

"He's taunting me!" he shouted angrily. "Let me hit him again! I'll grind him into the ground!"

"Come on," said another one of Michael's friends, helping to drag him out of the room. Within a couple minutes, all four of them had left the room, the door banging back and forth in its frame. I sighed a breath of relief – If he had decided to punch me again, I don't think I would have been able to fight back. Good thing he didn't.

I blinked a couple times and turned to look at the ring of people who had by then surrounded us. They were all looking at me and Avryl with wide, flashing eyes. I raised my lip and half of them took a few steps back, eyes darting around to avoid my own. I turned to Avryl.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine. And you?"

I sighed and gripped my stomach which was still rippling with pain form that kick. And not to mention my stinging face. But, because I didn't want to be some baby about it, I smiled convincingly at Avryl. "Perfect. He didn't really kick that hard so I'll be okay."

Avryl smiled. "Good, or I might have had to step in myself!"

I laughed. "Okay, Avryl, good thing I can count on you." I looked around the room and spotted a worn down unoccupied game of _Sonic Blast Heroes_. "Let's go over there."

We walked to it and Avryl leaned against the console while I pressed the start button and began to play. As I began punching holes through dinosaurs, Avryl sighed looked at me.

"This… sucks," she said simply. I snorted.

"Well, no kidding. After all, it is an orphanage. What did you except?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the screen.

"Dancing and singing kids," she replied flatly. I laughed at that.

"Yeah, well, I guess it is what it is, yeah?" I said, punching the buttons on the console and then leaning against it against it to look at Avryl. "But we won't be here for long."

"You think?" she asked. I nodded sternly.

"Oh, of course. No way are we staying here for more than a few months. Six at the most," I tell her, ending the game. I sigh and look up at the ceiling. "One way or another, we'll leave this orphanage."

She smiled at my words. "And even if we don't, we'll still okay, right?"

I kept my head tilted up but looked at her out of the corner of my eye. "Trust me, we'll be out of here before the end of this year. I promise…"

But… what if I was wrong? What if no one wanted to adopt us? What if… we were stuck here until we turned eighteen and were released on our own…?!

No. No, that wouldn't happen. It couldn't happen. Someone would adopt the two of us. I was sure of it. Avryl and I were only there temporarily – someone would come along and take us home.

I was positive of that fact. We weren't staying there forever. We weren't_. We weren't_.

* * *

"AVRYL! AARIC! YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

In case you're wondering, that would be the orphanage director, Mrs. Hisae.

In case you're also wondering, she was not very happy.

"Hurry, run, she's coming!" squealed Avryl, her sneakers skidding over the tiled floor. Clutched to her chest, a tub of ice cream perspired over her fingertips. She was grinning from ear to ear, glancing over her shoulder as we ran down the long hall.

"Don't let her catch you," I panted, holding my own ice cream in my arms. The coldness of it felt good on my hot sweaty skin. Good thing we decided to steal it – it's so blistering that day, the cold cream would surely help.

"AARIC, STOP RIGHT THERE! AVRYL, GIVE ME THAT ICE CREAM BACK! IT'S NOT YOURS! STOP RUNNING AND GIVE IT BACK!"

"Ha, yeah right!" I called back over my shoulder, taunting the old woman. "If you can catch us, you can keep it!"

"Good luck~!" Avryl sang-song back at Mrs. Hisae, who growled angrily and tried to pick up the pace. But Mrs. Hisae was old… and, no offense, _fat_. How could she keep up with two twelve year olds who spend their days running from people like her?

"Damn you two!" I heard her call out after us. "Damn. You!"

Avryl and I only giggled at that and ran faster.

"She sounds really upset," Avryl observed, turning down a hall and I followed. "Almost like she's gunna punish us or something."

"Ha. I'd like to see her try," I say and point to a glass door up ahead, letting in afternoon light. "Let's go out there."

Obliging, Avryl went for the door and together we burst through it into the sticky hot air. Not stopping there, we tore through the flowerbeds of wilting tulips and across the back lawn of the orphanage. Only when we reached the shade of a glade of oak trees did we stop running. I sunk to my knees, panting heavily from exertion and hugging the ice cream to my chest.

"…Ha ha…" Avryl wheezed above me, words laced with coughs. "Stupid Hisae… we have your… ice cream!"

I stood straight and beamed at my sister, holding my tub in front of me. I surveyed it and grinned even wider. "I got chocolate chip! What'd you get?"

"Birthday cake flavor," she said excitedly, ripping at the plastic encasing it. I ripped the top off my own and looked down at the glistening cream. Rarely did we orphans get something as good as ice cream… Hisae horded it all for herself. Only two daring souls who were brave enough to sneak into her office could get their hands on something like this.

Then, much to my bafflement, I realized I hadn't thought of grabbing spoons. Dang it, I should've grabbed one.

Well, whatever.

I sunk my hand into the white cream and scooped out a handful, crouching down on the ground. Avryl watched with a look of sight disgust as I continued to shovel it into my mouth.

"…Um, have you washed your hands recently?" she asked, raising a lip in abhorrence. I looked up at her, my hand wedged in my mouth.

"… Ubh.. nohb rebently, no," I managed to say, licking my fingers of the ice cream. Avryl watched me for a few seconds more before crouching down next to me and doing the same with her own ice cream, apparently not so bothered by using her hands as utensils as before.

"Mmm, this is good," she said, licking her lips. "What a great idea I had in stealing it!" She giggled to herself while I stopped eating to look at her.

"You're idea?" I repeated. "This was _my_ idea!"

"Nuh-_uh_!" she said, sticking her tongue at me. "It was all mine!"

"Avryl, you must've hit your head or something, because this was all me. You're delusional," I said, quirking an eyebrow. Avryl put down her ice cream tub and balanced on her haunches, teeth bared in a half-growl, half-smile.

"Aaric, the only one delusional here is you," she taunted, creeping closer to me. So focused on eating that ice cream, I was utterly surprised when she suddenly tackled me, pulling at my long hair and kicking her knees into my stomach.

I shouted in surprise but then easily got a hold of the situation and defended myself by yanking on her shirt and trying to toss her aside. Giggling like little kids, we began to play-fight on the ground, kicking up grass and twigs entwining into our hair. Neither of us really had an upper hand when it came to fighting. I was stronger, but Avryl was quick and agile. So we'd always end up thrashing back and forth, equally matched, and resort to the painful technique of tickling.

As we wrestled/tickle-fought, we barley heard the crunch of shoes over fallen leaves until a shadow fell over us, enveloping us in cold.

From my position on top of Avryl, holding one of her hands down with my knee and the other in my hair, I looked up at the figure as did she.

I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the lighting, and realized it was a fellow orphan whose name I don't remember. Something like Nate or Nathan or something like that. He wore is default clothing, pajamas. I didn't really like Nate – he was always preoccupied by stupid games like Sudoku and puzzle boards and robot toys to really talk to. In fact, he hardly ever dragged himself outside. It was quite a surprise seeing him standing there looking down at us in the sunlight.

"Uh, Nate…" I said, pulling away from Avryl and flopping off to the side. He watched us with calculating eyes. "…Do you need something?"

He shook his head solemnly. "No," he said monotonously. "I have no business with you two. However, Mrs. Hisae would like to speak with you."

I growled and adjusted my shirt. "Oh, I get it. She sent you, her favorite little orphan, out here so we can go to her office and get scolded at. Right?"

"Yeah, we're not interested," Avryl chimed in. "We're fine where we are, so go tell her that."

Nate only looked at us with those creepy eyes and turned to walk away. Before he did, however, he looked at us over his shoulder. "Fine. But there's a couple here looking to interview the two of you. I'll go say you aren't interested though. Goodbye."

"…Wait, what? Interview?!"

I was already up on my feet and helping Avryl to hers. We both stared at Nate. "As in, a real actual interview?!"

"Yes, but you don't care so I am on my way to tell Hisae-san that," he drones and starts to walk away. Avryl and I look at each other with eyes as wide as saucepan and immediately take off toward the orphanage. I don't even care that I shoved Nate to the ground, or that I'm leaving my ice cream behind. He said interview… A freaking interview!

Avryl and I had been at that orphanage four years since we first arrived. Four whole, long years. In that time, we had never, not once, been called in for an interview. We never got past the file examination. People would scan over our papers, decide, "Eh, better not," and move on to the next kid.

So to hear that we, Avryl and Aaric, had a real interview… It made me want to scream at the top of my lungs in pure joy.

We slammed back through the glass door and hurtled like bullets towards Mrs. Hisae's office, where all the interviews took place. We came to a shaky halt just outside the door, staring up at the shining gold letters spelling out HISAE OFFICE. My stomach lurched uncontrollably – this was one of the most important moments of my life… and I really didn't want to spoil it.

"…Oh god, this is exciting!" Avryl breathed beside me. "Aaric, this could be it! What if these are our future parents?" She could hardly contain her enthusiasm and she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. I inhaled quietly.

"Avryl, I promised you we'd get out of this orphanage in ten months… It's been four years since that. I'm really sorry…" I looked at her squarely. "But now we can actually do it – leave this horrible place. It's been awhile, but we're doing it!"

She latched her arms around my neck in a bubbly hug. Unexpected, I was thrown off balance and I clutched the wall for support.

"Oh, Aaric, it's okay it's been so long… It's not like it's your fault anyway. It's kinda mine too. If I wouldn't go along with your crazy schemes that get us in trouble, our records wouldn't be so tarnished and then people would want to adopt us. But it's okay now!" She pulled away and looked into my eyes. "Let's go in there and kill it, okay?"

"No, duh. Isn't that what I always do?" I asked, smiling at her. She wrinkled her nose at me and I layed a hand across the doorknob, about to twist it open.

"Wait!" Avryl suddenly shouted, grabbing at my sleeve. I turned and stared at her.

"Uh, what?"

"Your hair…! It's disgusting."

I glared at her. "Well, thanks Avryl. That's really nice of you to say."

She smiled sheepishly. "Uh, that's not what I meant…" She reached for my hair and began picking twigs out of it. Realizing her hair wasn't any better, I did the same for her. Actually, now that I looked at the two of us, our clothes were smeared in dirt and grime from our tousle outside in the grass. _Great, I hope this couple didn't judge on appearances. Because then we're screwed._

Finally, after styling ourselves to the best of our abilities, I looked at her.

"You ready?" I asked. She nodded. So, with a deep breath, I pushed open the door and entered.

The first thing I noticed about this couple was that they were old. Not Alzheimer's old but… old. They looked up at the two of us once we entered and I said I silent thank you to some god that they didn't back away or look at us disgustedly because of our dirty clothes. In fact, the woman smiled at the two of us and stood from her chair.

"Avryl, Aaric, it is such a pleasure to meet the two of you!" she said, bowing slightly towards both of us. Respectfully, Avryl and I did the same. So far, so good…

"My name is some Alice Walters. And this is my husband, Mr. Walters," she said, motioning towards the man next to her. He bowed his head.

"Nice to meet you," he said in a rather deep voice.

Not really knowing what to say to that, Avryl and I just took seats across the desk form the two of them. Mrs. Walters looked at us once she was seated and smiled warmly.

"You two look even lovelier in person," she remarked. "I wasn't expecting you two to look so similar either… Your pictures really do you no justice."

Well, I guess that's a good thing, right?

"Your files also say you are quite the trouble makers, yeah?" Mr. Walters spoke up, thumbing through some papers on the desk.

I stiffened. Oh, no. here it comes… The 'we don't tolerate troublemakers. Sorry, but adoption is impossible between us today.' That's what the orphanage leaders always told us – that Avryl and I were just too rowdy to ever get adopted. And it wasn't like it was our fault – what kind of kid _wouldn't_ get into trouble all the time after being abandoned, twice, and thrust into an orphanage? Tell me, I'd like to know.

However, what Mr. Walters said next surprised me. "Reminds me of when I was a kid."

I breathed an audible sigh of relief. Oh, thank god… Maybe these people really could work… Or we could work for them. Or something.

The rest of the interview flew by, and at first I was shy and reluctant to cough up answers to their questions – especially ones that related to our old parents. I didn't like to think about Mom and Dad anymore. It hurt too much. That's why I blocked it from my waking conscious when I could.

However, as the interview progressed, the more open I'd become until I was actually cracking jokes and laughing with the Walters. And that's saying something because my humor consist of two things: sarcasm, and mockery.

Before any of us know it, a full two hours had passed and we'd told the Walters everything between what our favorite color was to the things we want to be when we grew up. Satisfied with the interview, Mrs. Walters stood up and looked to her husband who grinned back. He made a curt nod and Mrs. Walters turned to smile at the both of us.

"Well, Avryl and Aaric… It looks like today is your lucky day. I think we'd be interested in adopting the two of you."

I tried, I really, really tried to hold myself together when she said that. Tried to take it formally and casually, stand and smile at the two of them.

In all actuality, I think I screamed like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Avryl, who was just as excited as I was, threw herself on me in a hug. "We're getting adopted, we're getting adopted, we're getting adopted!" she chanted over and over in my ear. She pulled away and did a little victory dance, much to Mr. and Mrs. Walter's amusement.

"We're still going to have to sort some things through with Mrs. Hisae," Mr. Walter explained. "But there's more than a ninety percent chance we're taking the two of you home real soon."

"Yay!" Avryl cheered. "Finally, a real home! A real mom and dad! Yay~!"

I might've been busting cheerleading moves like Avryl's in that moment too… if I wasn't totally shaking from head to toe. Not from nervousness, not from fear… No, I was more than excited. I could see it now – after four years of this stupid orphanage, I could actually make good on my promise to Avryl and leave here. Live in an actual family again. Go to an actual school.

Finally, have a happy ending.

But… of course that's not possible. I mean, why would it be? Happy endings don't exist in real life. Endings where everyone wins. Where everyone's happy and living in harmony.

It's not like that.

And this is especially true in my life.

No, things were only getting started. Things much worse than what had happened to us so far. Little did we know it, but being adopted by the Walters was only the beginning of a strand of events that would eventually lead to the _end_ of me and my sister.

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**Ooooooh, what does Aaric mean…. "the end"? YOU WILL NEVER KNOW! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**Well, at least you won't until the new chapters come! Also… I was watching a certain anime when writing this chapter… Anyone get the whole Nate the pajama-wearing orphan thing? I know, I know, I'm so unoriginal with coming up with my own characters so I kinda borrowed one… lazy me… :( ****[Credit for that kid goes to Takeshi Obata, Tsugumi Ohba and Viz Media….]**

**PS: Sonic Blast Heros is a popular arcade game from awhile ago… Though it's never really been released and kept in America or other places besides Japan…**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you're looking forward to chapter four because I am! XP**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, like, I have about thirty good excuses as to why this chapter is so late. But that's all they are: excuses. AND EXCUSES AREN'T ALLOWED! D: *Man, I really need to just force myself down to write next time...***

**Anyway, I'm proud to say that this is chapter four! If you haven't completely given up on me because I haven't posted in... ARGHHH! THREE MONTHS?! God, it's been that long? Okay, yeah, you have permission to rage at me XD**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

**Wait, wait, wait, quick note! Uh, this chapter has a bad word in it. Beyond the average 'hell' and 'damn'. If you have a problem with the word 'bitch' I'M SORRRYYYYYYY! So no reviews saying 'You didn't warn me! Blah blah blah I'm gunna report you now! blah blah blah.'**

**You've been warned!**

**EDIT: (3/12/15): If you're a new reader, or even an old checking back in, you've probably realized that I haven't posted a new chapter in quite some time. I understand there are people waiting to read the rest of this fanfiction. As of right now, however, it's become increasingly hard to continue this fic. However, I do - I MEAN, I REALLY DO - intend on updating a new chapter sometime in the coming months. The latest will be May. It's a long wait, I know, but thank you for hanging in with me and thank you for all the support you guys have given me.**

**Thank you PrincessofAltea. Because of your reviews, I decided to pick this fanfiction back up.**

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_Sister, hide our love away._

_From the evil we both know._

_It can see you through these dark days,_

_though they seem to darken as I go._

_Our love will see us through these dark, dark days,_

_sister, 'till it lights the way back home._

_Sister, hide our love away._

_"Dark Days" by the Punch Brothers_xxx

"Aaric?! Have you seen my brush?!"

I sighed and pulled myself out from under my bed, clutching a wadded up pair of pants in my hand. "No, I haven't," I told Avryl from over my shoulder, folding the pants. "And why would I know anyway?"

She huffed and threw one of her thousands of blouses into a suitcase on her bed. "Well, I dunno, Aaric. But you're _always _using it to brush your own hair so I just thought you'd happen to know where it is."

"Hey, I don't use your brush!" I defended, standing up and placing the pants into my suitcase. "You're imagining things."

Avryl began to fold a pile of her clothes and place them into her suitcase, tossing me an irritated look. "Oh, sure. Just like I imagine you using my shampoo and conditioner and combs too, then, I guess?"

I bit back a comment, probably too embarrassed to say anything, because she did have a point. I just shrugged. "Well, I haven't seen it lately."

There was a knock at the door and without waiting for a reply, the thing opened. Mrs. Hisae appeared in the frame, arms crossed.

"You two, the Walters are waiting in the lobby. Finish here and make it snappy," she instructed crankily. Jeez, last day there and not technically under her supervision anymore, and she _still _bossed us around.

Still, we finished up packing as fast as we could. Not for Mrs. Hisae's sake - but because we desperately wanted out of there as soon as possible. After four years of that place, it started to feel like we'd never get out.

We were then.

I picked up one of my bags and threw it over my shoulder, walking to the door, Avryl ahead of me. She turned to smile at me. "C'mon Aaric, let's get out of here!" She was literally bouncing up and down as she walked, and then she flew out the door, hooting as she went.

I followed, but more slowly. And as I got to the threshold, I turned back to stare in at my emptied out room. It looked exactly as it did when we first arrived there. Cold and unwelcoming with our posters and pictures torn down. Ugly.

"Sorry," I whispered quietly, running my hands over the doorframe. I don't know who the hell I was talking to: myself, or Avryl, or the room, or maybe just the next kid tossed in here, unwanted just like us.

"Hey, Aaric, are you coming?!" Avryl called from down the hallway. She stood at the head of the stairs, looking back at me. I sighed and quietly shut the door to the room.

xxx

"Well I guess this is it," Mrs. Hisae said, looking down at Aryl and I over her puffed out chest. I looked back up at her.

"And thank the gods, too," Avryl replied to her. "Stayed one more night in here and I would have easily gone insane."

I smiled up at the woman. "Couldn't have said it better."

Mrs. Hisae's lips twitched with irritation and ignored me, looking to my sister. "And so would I, Avryl, so would I."

"Okay you two! Ready to hit it?"

I turned to face Mr. Walters who had both Avryl's and my bags hauled onto his shoulders, beaming at the two of us at his accomplishment.

"D_ea_r!" Mrs. Walters cried, looking at the heavy bags he was sporting. "That's not good for your back!"

"Oh my sweet Alice, I didn't spend nine-hundred yen a month on that gym membership for nothing! I mean, it's really paying off, hun!" He lifted the bags from his shoulders and above his head, proceeding to lift them like weights. Avryl giggled beside me.

"Roy!" Mrs. Walters wailed. "Put that down before you pop your shoulder out of its socket!" She stepped forward and reached up to pull them from his hands. "...Or... I'll... Have... to grab... them..." She growled with exertion, attempting to pull the suitcases from Mr. Walters hands (who wasn't so forthcoming and leapt around the lobby with them, continuing to lift them).

"You don't want to be in the hospital for another four months like the last time you did something like this!" Mrs. Walters exclaimed, jumping up to reach her husbands height, in order to snatch the bags away from him. "Your professional wrestling days are over!"

"You're gunna have to catch me!" Jumping around the lobby as he yelled it, away from Mrs. Walters, still juggling the bags and laughing triumphantly.

Avryl met my gaze and her eyes reflected exactly what I was thinking: _They're weird_. But not the kind of weird that those kids have that make you not want to sit with them at lunch; the weird you _want _to be around because weird equals fun. I smile.

"They're cool," I said matter-of-factly.

"Sure are," Avryl said, but then frowned and looked at me as if about to scold me. I opened my mouth to snap something like, _Hey, what'd I do!? _but she beat me to it.

"How long is it gunna take before they realize they don't want us and turn us back in?" The way she said it, it wasn't a question that expected an answer. It was completely rhetorical, down to every syllable. At first my eyebrows collapsed into my eyes, but then I bit the inside of my cheek.

"It's not going to happen. We're not going to give them a reason to do that," I told her. "I know what our files said - we're going to prove it wrong."

"How?"

"No more tricks. No stupid pranks. Nothing dumb."

"Okay," she agreed. "It sounds hard, though."

She was right. Living four years in an orphanage with a bunch of other kids can turn two polite kids into the polar opposites - for me and Avryl, that meant turning into rowdy kids who love playing pranks on others.

Moving into this new life, I knew we couldn't do any of that. Maybe the Walters weren't _that _scrict and wouldn't mind a bit of rough-housedness every now and then. Still, I didn't want to risk it. As hard it it may have been to not smear graffiti across the sides of the house, or knock trashcans over riding our bikes or _whatever_, I was determined not to do anything that would jeopardize our new home. Avryl's solid look back at me was enough to know she felt the same.

"Okay, from here on out we promise to be on our best behavior, yes?" she asked, holding our her pinkie finger. I wrapped it around my own and gave our hands a shake.

"Definitely. Starting now." I released her hand and let it fall to her side.

"Oh, Avryl, Aaric, let's go!" Mrs. Walters called back at the two of us, at the automatic doors. Mr. Walters was already in the parking lot, jumping around the middle of the street. "Sorry, Mrs. Hisae, but we're finished here right? My husband is... well..." She looked out the window and only sighed, pinching her the bridge of her nose.

"Yeah, we're done," Mrs. Hisae said, who I forgot was even standing there, watching everything from behind her glasses. She waved a hand. "Thanks for your West City adoption."

"Well, Avryl, Aaric, let's get going! The drive back home is rather long - and I want to stop for lunch and get back before sunset!" Mrs. Walters said, waiting for the two of us.

Just as we were about to step after her, I felt Mrs. Hisae's gaze boring into my back. I turned around and almost fell backwards.

She was smiling - a genuine, happy smile. Mrs. Hisae, Mrs. All-Business, Mrs. I-Hate-Kids Lady, smiling. And at me and Avryl. I must've passed out somewhere between her and Mrs. Walters and was hallucinating this.

"Hey, you two," she said, voice devoid of any and all strictness it possessed just moments before. "...Good luck. Look after your sister."

Her words sank in to me and I didn't react for probably only three seconds, but then I smiled.

"Thanks."

And then we left West City Orphanage just like that - and hoped we'd never have to return. And we didn't.

xxx

"So, tell me, what do you two like to do for fun?" Mr. Walters asked around his double-patty hamburger.

We were seated in a booth near the back of some diner alongside the highway that we stopped at for lunch. I swallowed some fries and wiped my mouth on my napkin.

Trashing rooms, breaking things and playing video games.

Yeah, but that wasn't something I was going to blurt out.

"Well, I like anything," Avryl said first. "Anything fun." I nodded in agreement.

"How about amusement parks? Like those?" Mrs. Walters asked.

My and Avryl's eyes lit up. "Yes!" we gushed in unison.

"We figured so - I won a raffle at work the other day and got four tickets to the newly opened amusement park, Superworld. You guys want to go?" Mrs. Walters smiled at us.

First impressions are everything. We didn't want the Walters to get any weird idea about us. But we hadn't gone to an amusement park in nearly four years, even more than that because our old parents hadn't taken us to one in quite awhile.

Needless to say, we jumped up and down in the booth giddily, attracting the eyes of other dineers. (A/N: Is that a word? XP) But the Walters only laughed.

"Well, I can see the decision won't be hard to make," Mr. Walters chided. "That's a yes?"

"Of course!" Avryl answered for the both of us. "Definitely, Mr. Walters."

Mr. Walter's lips fell into a straight line. "Y'know, you two, you dont have to call us 'The Walters.'"

"Yeah," Mrs. Walters added. "If you're uncomfortable calling us Mom and Dad, I understand. But we're family now - I'm Alice and he's Roy, okay?" She offered a warm smile. One like Mom used to give. It left me feeling fuzzy inside. I hadn't felt that way in a long time.

It felt good.

"Okay," we agreed. "Alice and Roy from now on."

The Walters grinned. "Yep! Now, finish your food and we can order dessert, okay?" Mrs. Walters suggested.

"Ooh, a caramel sundae," I breathed, pulling my menu closer. "A triple sized one with extra ice cream!"

"Hey, don't be rude," Avryl said. "We're not paying."

"Oh no, you two, it's fine. Order whatever you like. We'll be happy either way," Mr. Walters said, waving a dismissive hand at us. In that instant, my eyes grew bigger than my stomach and I ordered an extra large caramel ice cream sundae with the works for sixty yen; I only ended up eating little under half. The Walter's didn't complain about it once.

On our drive to the Walter's house from the diner, I leaned back in my seat and let my head rest on the window. The car was quiet except for the soft tunes coming out of the radio and the distance sounding _whir _of the tires. But it was a comfortable silence, one that was so comfortable my eyes started to slowly shut as I gazed out the window at the passing trees and cars.

I felt Avryl scoot over and lean against me, arm around my waist and ear pressed against my abdomen. I wrapped an arm around her.

"Hey, Aaric?" she whispered quietly, looking into my eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

I lifted my head to look at her. "For what?"

"For promising me."

It took me a couple seconds to understand what she meant. _"Trust me, we'll be out of here before the end of this year. I promise…"_

"But I broke my promise," I point out.

She shakes her head. "Does it matter? We're gone now. And we're still together. So, thanks." A beam of light fell through the window and landed on her pale face, her blue eyes oceans in the sea of gold. I pulled her closer, shutting my eyes for rest.

"No problem."

xxx

"Beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep…!"

I groaned and rolled over, trying to bury my head under my pillow. Ugh, what a horrible noise. Where's it coming from…?

"Beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep….!"

…I don't own an alarm clock…. What the?

"AARIC~ Tiiiime to get uuuup~!"

Suddenly, the covers were thrown from my body and I was enveloped in bitter cold air. I started, and sat up in bed, looking around the dark room for the culprit. Through my blurry, sleepy haze I spotted something tall and blonde out of the corner of my eye and scowled.

"Avryl, what are you doing in my room?" I demanded to my sister who stood at my dresser, grinning from ear to ear.

"I came to wake you up, dummy," she said and tucked some blond hair behind her ear. "If you don't get up now, we're going to be late for our last first day of school!"

I muttered something undecipherable and rubbed my head, still trying to wake up. First day of school...?

I groaned and fell onto my back. "Not today...!" I pushed my face under my pillow. "How about tomorrow?"

I heard her muffled scoff and then warm hands wrapped around my ankles. I pushed my head up. "Hey, what are you doing?!" I demanded, looking over my shoulder at her as she began tugging my legs out of bed. "Hey, stop! I'm _trying _to sleep!" I grabbed the bed-posts to keep from moving.

"No... you're... not," she grunted, straining to get leverage and pull me out of bed. "I don't want to be late...!"

I held onto the posts and let my head fall into my pillow. We could play this game all day if she wanted; I wasn't leaving the comfort of my warm bed for hell - er, school - for anything.

"Fine!" I felt her grip slack and she let go. I could picture her raise an annoyed lip and cross her arms. "Stay here and sleep! But I'm getting to eat your breakfast!"

My head popped up. "Breakfast?" I slurred. "What kind?"

"Waffles," she said at the doorframe. "And you're not getting any."

My feet found the floor quicker than the speed of light and I launched out into the hall, nearly toppling over Avryl.

"Hey, watch it," she scowled, shoving me off her. "I thought you weren't getting up?"

"Yeah, well..." I trailed off as the smell of butter and blueberries approached my nose. I smiled at Avryl. "Then I smelled that."

"You're like a little kid," she said, rolling her eyes. "Won't get up unless food is involved."

"C'mon, let's go eat," I said, running down the hall. "Last one down is a dead guy!"

"Hey, no fair!" she shouted and thundered down the hall behind me. "You got a head start!" She caught up to me and sprinted down the stairs, teeth gritted as she kept pace with me.

We crashed into the kitchen five secodns later with loud _oofs_ and crashes and bangs, causing Alice, who was standing at the stove, to turn and look at us.

"Avryl, Aaric, slow down there!" she instructed, waving a spatula covered in batter at the two of us. "Or you could fall and injure yourselves!"

To tell the truth, I wasn't even listening. I was too focused on the tower of waffles on the table. I immediately sat in a chair and began piling some of the cakes onto my plate, stomach grumbling from hunger.

"Good morning, Aaric," Roy said from where he sat across from me, reading a newspaper. He looked up over it at me. "How did you sleep?"

"Well enough," I answered and drizzled syrup over the waffles.

"Lair," Avryl teased, sniggering at me as she slapped some waffles onto her plate. She looked to Roy. "He hardly slept at all - he was up until one playing video games. I heard him."

I kicked her under the table, giving her a death stare. "Thanks, Avryl. I can count on your to keep your mouth shut." She just laughed.

"So you two aren't nervous for the first day of school?" Roy asked us, setting the paper down.

"Nah," Avryl said, already eating her breakfast. "I'm just happy it's the last first day."

Roy smiled and nodded at the two of us. "Of course, that's always a great feeling. But the real question is, what are you two going to do once you're done with school?"

Avryl met my eyes before we both looked at Roy and shrugged. "We don't know," we said in unison. Roy cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh? You must have some plans - anything. You're telling me you don't have any dreams, ambitions?" He was looked at us with all-out seriousness.

"Well, I mean, I guess I always wanted to be a car mechanic," I said, cutting a piece off my waffles. "Or I could design video games. Anything with technology."

"Yeah, I wanted to be a clothes designer myself," Avryl said, shrugging. "Or work as a photographer for some upscale magazine."

Roy nodded, stroking his chin. "Sounds good to me. I'm sure you two will be successful in anything you want. You've got a future in front of you, but it only starts with getting to school today."

Avryl and I smiled. "Thanks, Dad," I said, taking a swig of milk. "Good to know someone believes in us."

Roy only winked before returning to reading his newspaper.

Nearby on the counter, a T.V blared out some news program. Lazily, I turned to it and passively watched some story about my high school's football team. Honestly, I didn't even really listen to what it was saying.

I was just about to turn back to my food when I heard something that caught my interest.

"In other news, a recent outbreak of a fatal cardiovascular virus has broken out in West City this early week," said the news lady, thumbing through some papers on the desk.

"Hey, guys, look," I said, motioning to the T.V. Roy and Avryl looked up from their food.

"What is it Aaric? I'm kinda busy," Avryl said, swallowing a mouthful of waffles.

"Some weird virus thing," I said, nodding at the screen. "Watch."

Avryl finished swallowing and Roy put down his paper he had just picked back up to watch the T.V. Even Alice stopped doing dishes and placed her hands on her hips as she watched the television.

The news anchor on screen looked at the camera sternly. "Scientists still have yet to find the cause of the virus, hence no cure has been made. We take you live now to Dr. Brief of Capsule Corporation."

The scene shifted to a purple-haired man wearing a white lab coat in some laboratory surrounded by machines of all kinds. In the background, a couple other people in white coats busily shuffled around the lab, as if looking desperately for something they lost.

The purple-haired man, Dr. Brief, scratched his head before saying, "This virus is a particularly peculiar case - so far, no one who has caught it has survived. Not one single soul!" Dr. Brief looked at the workers around him. "My colleagues and I are doing everything we can to find the cause of the virus - but nothing has turned up. And I'm afraid this if we can't find patient zero, no cure will be made." He shook his head. "It's quite frankly a mystery."

"Whoa," I said, turning to grin at my family. "Intense, yeah? No one's survived before. Sucks there's no cure." Alice pursed her lips at me.

"Aaric, it's not funny. People have died because of this," she said. "It's not nice to laugh."

I dropped the smile. "I was just joking..." I started to say but her attention was back on the screen.

"Thank you, Dr. Brief," the news anchor said, the scene back in the newsroom. She looked into the camera. "The National Center for Disease Control has labeled this disease code red - if you experience any of the following symptoms, get to a hospital as soon as possible, as it is highly contagious. The list of symptoms include shortness of breath, hot flashes, difficulty to breathe, soreness in muscles, fainting and dizziness. Again, if you experience any of these symptoms visit your local health center immediately."

Alice started _tsking _her tongue and shaking her head, returning to the dishes. "How horrible. Simply horrible."

Roy nodded. "Sadly. Good thing we've shown no symptoms. But, now that I think about it... Is it kind of hot in here?" He said, fanning himself with his hand. At first, my stomach flipped but then I caught the small smile on his lips.

"Ugh, that is not funny!" Avryl said angrily, realizing he was just playing too. "It's serious!"

Roy laughed and I joined in. "Aw, come on now Avryl. Don't take it to heart," Roy chuckled.

"Hey, yeah, maybe the virus comes from being stressed. Better watch out Avryl," I said, laughing as I ducked just in time to avoid the wadded napkin that came my way.

Breaking up banter, Alice walked to the table, a dirty pot and sponge in hand, looking down at me and my twin.

"Hmmmm, you two... Correct me if I'm wrong but, don't you two have a bus to catch in five minutes?" she asked, scrubbing the pot.

I dropped my fork and looked at the clock. Sure enough, it was five minutes from eight. Shoot! She was right; we only had five minutes to get to the bus stop and I wasn't even dressed yet!

I shoveled the last of the food into my mouth and dashed up the stairs, grumbling about staying up too late playing video games when I should've been resting. Quickly, I threw on my school uniform and ran some fingers through my fully grown-out black hair that fell past my chin.

Giving one last glance at my messy room I turned off the light and hustled down the stairs. Avryl was waiting for me at the bottom, picking at her perfect nails.

"Took you long enough," she teased, opening the front door, letting in light and the sound of birds. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Two minutes. Like your three hours of getting ready is a simple wait," I said sarcastically. I dove just in time to avoid her school bag, laughing. "What? It's true."

She just scoffed and shoved me out the front door.

"Wait, Aaric!" Alice called back from inside the house. She appeared at the threshold holding my school bag. "Forgetting something?"

"Whoops," I said and took one of the bag, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly. "Uh, thanks for that."

"See what happens when you stay up late and sleep in?" Alice said. Avryl crossed her arms.

"Yeah, Aaric, isn't that what I'm always telling you?" she cajoled. I wrinkled my face and looked at her.

"You're so thoughtful, Avryl," I said. "Thanks for reminding me. Again."

"No problem, bro," she said, saluting me with two fingers. I rolled my eyes.

Roy came up behind his wife and beamed down me and Avryl, patting us both on the shoulder. "Well, you two, have a good day," he said. "Good luck!"

"Thanks, we will," Avryl and I said in unison, smiling up at our adoptive parents.

"And don't get into too much trouble, yeah?" suggested Alice, giving us both a weary glance.

"Hai," I agreed, sharing a sly glance with my sister. "We'll try, at least. Can't make any promises though."

Alice sighed exasperatedly as Avryl and I bounced down the porch steps. "You two, I really mean it!"

"Okay, okay!" I called back over my shoulder, waving. "See ya after school!"

"Bye!" they both shouted out after us, waving like the proud parents they were. I turned back around and began walking down the sidewalk, a smile on my face. It was such a nice day out - birds chirping, sun warm on my skin. It was a shame we had to spend it in school.

I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked up towards the sky. Miles away, over in the area by Gingertown, large inky clouds grumbled as they scraped against the top of the sky. Cracks of green lightning broke against the pillows of black, illuminating them in a dusky glow. Faintly I could hear the resonance of the thunder echoing back at me. A breeze ruffled through my hair, leaves stirring across the street. I shivered.

"Hey Aaric…"

I jumped at the voice and turned to Avryl. She looked back at me with wide eyes.

"Um, sorry, did I scare you?"

I shook my head. "No, you didn't." I looked back to the billowing clouds in the distance. "I was just thinking, that's all." _Why did I feel cold all of the sudden?_

"Aaric."

"Hnn?" I turned to her.

She reached out and poked my shoulder. "Race you to the bustop!" She took off running, her bag flapping against her back.

"Oh, you little cheater!" I shouted at her, running to catch up, eager to beat her. "You can't stay ahead forever!"

She laughed as I caught up to her, both of our shoes echoing against the pavement at the same time. Up ahead, the Bus Stop sign appeared and with it, a crowd of mingling teenagers. I glanced at Avryl who glanced back, before putting everything we had into our race.

Finally, we peeled through the currents of kids, touching the Bus Stop sign pole at exactly the same time. I wheezed a few times as I came to a halt, hands on my knees. A couple kids looked over at us but didn't give us a second thought and went back to their business.

"Ha… I beat… you!" Avryl said, panting like crazy. I smirked.

"No, I beat… you, obviously…!"

"Nuh-uh," she retorted.

"Yeah-huh."

"No!"

"Yes!"

Breaking up our disagreement, the bus wheeled to a stop in front of us, its acrid smell filling the air. A couple kids coughed as the doors _whooshed_ open and began to file inside. I straightened up and held a hand down to Avryl who was crouched on the ground. She took it.

"Good race," I said to which she nodded.

"Yeah, but next time I _will_ beat you," she said and got into line. I shook my head, grinning.

She boarded the bus in front of me and I took another look at the darkening sky. It was warm here, the sun hot on my skin, but I couldn't help as icy fingers scratched down my spine.

Nerves,

I thought. _Nothing more. I'm fine._

The bus doors shut behind me.

xxx

"Meatloaf?"

I looked up to see Avryl drop a tray of food on the table in front of me. Mashed potatoes spilled over the edge with a plop. She put her hands on her hips.

"Why are you eating that?"

I looked back down to my food, at the half-eaten chunk of brown meat that they labeled 'meatloaf' but after eating half, I'm not so sure. They had peas too, but they looked like they'd been in the fridge since the year we were born, way back in 746. And let's not talk about the state the bread was in. As it is, all my large tray has on it is a pound of meatloaf. Yum, right?

"I was hungry," I answered, forking some into my mouth.

"It's disgusting." She flipped her hair and lifted up her school bag. "Lucky for you, I plan ahead." She proceeded to pull two bags out of her pack and handed one to me. "This is way better."

I opened the bag and dumped out the contents, and let's just say I shoved the meatloaf away faster than you can blink.

"Thanks," I muttered around a mouthful of turkey sandwich. Around us, the chatter of people and clatter of dishes created an orchestra of sound. I could hardly hear myself think in there, let alone speak. But it was lunchtime, and it would worse if a cafeteria full of teenagers was silent.

I swallowed my food and looked up at Avryl.

"So, how's _your _first day-" I stopped when I saw she had risen her spoon and pulled the top half back which was filled with mashed potatoes and aligned with my face.

"Hey, what're you aiming at?!" I cried, jumping out of her way. She broke from her focus to give me an eyeroll.

"I'm not aiming at you," she grumbled. "Look." She nodded to a couple tables down in the cafeteria. I looked down her line of vision to see a table full of girls giggling with one another. I recognize them from when Avryl pointed them out to me once and said, 'See those girls over there? Yeah, they're bitches.'

I turned back to Avryl. You know, I probably should've gone, 'Hey, don't. You're going to get in trouble.' Or maybe even, 'Don't be immature.'

But that's not my style.

"Put more potatoes on," I said, grinning wolfishly. "And take this." I picked up some of my meatloaf and put it on the spoon. She grinned at me appreciatively.

"Thanks," she said before ducking her head down and closing one eye in concentration, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. I thumped the table with my fists in encouragement.

A kid at another table spotted us and grinned, tapping his buddy. Both of them turned to observe, followed by the rest of his table and soon, the tables around them. Noticing she had an audience, she smirked and raised the make-shift catapult higher. People clapped and stomped, egging her on.

With a quick flick of her wrist, she let the top of the spoon go and I watched as the potatoes soared through the air and hit one of the girls square in the back of the head.

The cafeteria erupted in laughter and I gave Avryl a high-five.

"I believe that's ten points for me, no?" Avryl laughed. I narrowed my eyes.

"So you wanna play that game then?" I asked but it was as if someone hit the mute button on the audio because all noise in the cafeteria stopped instantly. I turned around to see the girl who was nailed by the mashed potatoes standing right behind me, glaring down at me, face flushed with anger.

"Aaric Walters..." Her voice came out like cement, the words falling to the floor like a thousand pounds of bricks. "Did... you... do... this?"

The goofball grin that I had stuck on my face just moments ago dropped in all of 0.001 seconds. I glared up at her.

"It wasn't me," I defended. "It was -"

I didn't see the bowl of ramen when she approached me. Maybe it was hidden behind her back or something. Or in her skirt. Whatever.

Well, now it was all over my hair and spilling down my shirt and into my lap.

And then the mute button was pressed again, because cajoled laughter returned, heightened to an extreme.

"What the?! What did I do?!" I screamed up at the girl who had a satisfied smile plastered to her lips. "It wasn't me who threw that at you!"

She scoffed and dismissed my words with a wave of her hand. "You don't fool me, Aaric Walters. I know you did it because you're _always _doing stuff like that!" She turned and stomped off, back to her own table. Her friends crowded around her, wiping the potatoes from her hair while heated glares were tossed my way.

"Oh my god Aaric... That was..."

I turned around to Avryl who had her head in the table, shoulders heaving. Laughing.

"What, did you think that was funny?" I demanded, wiping the broth out of my eyes. She looked up at me from under her arm and smiled, blue eyes rimed with laughter. She didn't even have to say yes to let me know that indeed, she thought that was funny as hell.

"Well," I said, giving my ramen-hair a shake. "You're next."

She looked up only in time to have my half-eaten meatloaf chucked into her made-up face.

Yeah, her smile was gone pretty quick to say the least.

"_Oh, that is it, Aaric_!" She growled and stood out of her chair. "You're toast. You hear me?!" She picked up her container of macaroni salad. "You better start running."

"Food fight!" someone screamed across the cafeteria, and then all hell broke loose. Food flying everywhere, people screaming, people laughing, people standing on chairs and throwing things down at others.

Meanwhile, I was busy trying to avoid Avryl's wrath of terror.

"Get back here Aaric so I can kill you!"

I dove under a bench and slid out on the other side, ducking to avoid somebody's sandwich. Yeah, right, like I was going to stop so she could 'kill me'. I hoped she didn't mean that literally.

My sister had anger issues. Who knows - she could have meant that threat truthfully.

Pieces of spaghetti flew through the air at top notch speed and I barley spun to avoid them. That wasn't the first food fight that cafeteria had seen - most being conducted by Avryl or myself - but it was definitely the most riotous.

Suddenly, I found myself being smacked into a brick wall. I fell backwards on my butt, dazed and wondering, _Where'd the wall come from?_

But it wasn't a wall.

"Got you now!" Avryl screamed before hurtling herself on me. I was pressed onto my back, breaking her fall which was good for her, but less so for me.

"Wait, Avryl, stop!" I warned. She laughed.

"Don't be such a sissy, Aaric." And then I got a nice, probably well-prepared, serving of macaroni salad dumped in my face.

"Twenty points!" she cheered. "I win!"

"AHEM!"

We both looked up at the brick wall - which wasn't so much a wall as it was principal Ai-sensei. Saying he looked upset is an offense. He was livid.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" he shouted throughout the whole cafeteria. Immediately the food-throwing stopped. People groaned, knowing they were caught and in trouble, and sunk into their seats in defeat. Avryl and I remained on the ground.

"WHO STARTED THIS?!" Ai-sensei shouted sternly. For a class so loud two seconds who, we were awfully silent then.

"NO ONE GOING TO TELL ME, THEN?"

Silence.

"... Ai-sensei!" someone in the back of the cafeteria called. A girl voice. "It was Aaric-kun. He started it!"

I raised my head to see potato-girl had risen from her seat, the one who had spoke the words. I let my head fall to the floor again.

Well, Avryl wasn't lying when she called them that word.

I felt Mr. Ai's eyes bore into my forehead. I upturned my face to look at him.

"Get up you two. Now!" he demanded.

Avryl slipped off of me and pushed herself to her feet, then helped me up. Together we stood side-by-side, heads lowered as Mr. Ai said nothing, just tapped his foot and glared.

Silence.

"Okay, are you going to tell me what happened or not?" he finally asked. Not loudly, but in that strict way that makes you _wish _it was loud because this is worse. "Aaric, can you tell me why you started this outbreak?"

I open my mouth to speak but Avryl's voice comes out first.

"It was me, sir. I started it, not Aaric." She holds her head up. "I take all the credit."

I look at her but say nothing. She just shrugs at me.

"Under other circumstances, I'd send you both to detention," Ai-sensei says, hands behind his back. _Other circumstances? _"As it is, I would like you both to report to my office immediately."

"Um, yes sensei," we both say, giving each other puzzled looks. This is usually the part where Ai whips out the pink referrals and writes us both up for 'misconduct' or whatever. And he doesn't even seem that... mad. His eyebrows are pulled together to form creases around the forehead, but not tight ones. He looks more upset than anything.

The cafeteria remains silent as Ai-sensei, Avryl and I file out of the building. Teachers begin to walk around, organizing the kids and sending ones to the bathroom to clean up, but then the doors close behind us and I never walk back in there again.

xxx

Drip. Drip. Drip.

I wanted to tear my hair out. That leaky faucet was killing me. Especially when the room was deathly silent. I could almost hear the electrons moving around in the atoms in the air.

Outside, the sun had been burrowed deep in the charcoal clouds, tree branches were whipping back and forth and raking their tendrils across the window panes, and the wind gave a long, soulful howl. Shiver again.

I sat in a chair across from Mr. Ai at his desk. Avryl sat next to me. Both of us covered in food bits. We were starting to not smell that great.

And Mr. Ai. He was sitting there, staring at us. Not in a creepy way - just _looking _at us.

It was starting to piss me off.

"What is it?" I finally demand, quite loudly. "What do you want? Or are we having a staring contest?"

Mr. Ai disregards my comment entirely. Instead, his eyeballs roll down in their sockets to look at his desk. Hands folding in front of his face. Takes a deep breath.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

This time, it's not the faucet, but the rain that slowly starts to patter against the glass of the windows at uneven intervals. The wind picks up and the room is lit by green light from a pang of lightning.

And then Mr. Ai says, so softly I could barley hear him over the sound of the light rain, "You're parents are dead."

I've lost track of how long it's been since the day he said those words. Five years? Ten? I don't remember now. Yet I still vividly remember _exactly _how I reacted to those words.

I laughed.

Mr. Ai looked up at me, jaw hanging a bit, and Avryl was staring at me too. But I couldn't stop laughing. Lightning flared overhead and I threw my head back so it lolled over the back of the chair. My chest heaving with laughter. Because that was so _damn _funny.

Eventually, my giggling subsided and I stared up at the ceiling, smile still hanging on my lips. I took a deep breath and said without moving, "No, they're not."

"But-"

I picked my head up and glared something awful at Mr. Ai. "You're mistaken." My breath shuddered as I took a gulp of hair. "How would you know anyway?"

He said nothing.

I stood from my chair, the floor squeaking underneath my feet. I reached down and grabbed my bag. "C'mon Avryl, let's go get cleaned up."

She didn't move from her seat. Didn't even shift.

I looked from her placid face up to Mr. Ai's. He gazed back sadly.

"...Aaric," he started carefully, gently. "Please..."

"No!" I shouted, thunder rumbling overhead. Mr. Ai jumped a little at my sudden outburst. "They're _not _dead!" I slammed my palms onto his desk and glared straight into his face.

"And you know how I know?" I whispered fiercely. When he didn't answer, I did so myself. I pushed off his desk and backed up a few steps, holding my glare.

"Because I've already lost two before."

The rain started to come down harder outside, sounding like the ocean was being dumped from the sky. The glass rattled as the branches struck against it with more force. Nobody spoke until Avryl stood up, knocking her chair back.

"Aaric... I-I..." She sounded like she was being strangled with barbed wire. "He... I don't think he's lying to us..."

"I'm not," Mr. Ai spoke up miserably. I had the sudden urge to climb over that desk and punch him square in his fat nose. "I got the call just moments ago; they've been administered to the hospital but... I'm really sorry to have to pass this on to you."

I stared at him. I don't know what I looked like in that moment, but I imagine a cross between sheer despair and utter disgust.

"No..." Choked as the words came from my throat. Hardly audible. "No... It can't be..."

I fell to my knees, still staring off into space with that look on my face. I felt my body go numb. _How...? How could this happen...?_

My breath hitched in my throat and a guttural sound emitted from it, like I'd been shot. This wasn't happening._ It _couldn't _be happening!_

I hardly felt as Avryl approached me and sank her fingers into my hair, pulling my head to her stomach in a hug. I hardly felt as something warm and wet landed on my cheeks. Had a hole sprung into the ceiling? Was the rain seeping through?

I looked up. There was no rain. Avryl was crying.

Maybe I was too.

xxx

They look like they're sleeping.

That's what I thought as I stood in front of the bodies of my dead parents. In front of the Walters who, just that morning, were so full of life.

They look like they're sleeping.

I was still going through the early stages of shock, denial and distress. I refused to believe what was laying in front of my eyes. Those _weren't _my parents. They were dummies, made to look real. Or it was all a dream and I was going to wake up and smell waffles cooking downstairs.

Something churlish bit at the back of my throat and I forced the bile back down my throat. Forced my breaths to come at even rates, to not start hyperventilating. Warm fingers intertwined with mine and I clutched them like a lifeline. I felt like I was eight years old again. Standing on the side of the road, my parents laying dead on the asphalt. Knowing I couldn't do anything. Not believing it was true.

I felt like I was standing there in that rain outside the orphanage again. Alone. Cold. Scared.

The doctors had told us it was the heart virus. The one that kills instantaneously. No treatment. Said that even if they _were _brought to the hospital that morning, they couldn't have been helped. Dead before they hit the ground.

It makes me sick.

How. How? How is it that Mom and Dad die in a car crash? And then we meet the living personifications of the devil? And then, when we're truly happy again, _this _happens? Isn't there this bar that measures agony and when you're maxed out, nothing bad ever happens to you again? Shouldn't we have maxed out after the Ino's?

The doctors insisted that we be checked for the heart virus as well. But if there's no cure, I don't know what could have been done if we _did _have it.

Avryl's tests came back positive for the virus.

And right before I was about to rip all my hair out, break a couple walls and scream until my lungs burst, the doctors hurriedly corrected themselves and explained something was wrong with the test. She didn't have it.

I really don't want to think about what I would've done if that test was true.

They look like they're sleeping.

And they did. Laying on those gurneys, covered by white sheets. Mrs. Walter's still had a bit of a smile hindered on her lips. I could taste the bile rising again and forced it back down.

It's getting hot in here.

I almost couldn't breath, and it took me awhile to figure out why. I then realized I had a surgical mask over my face, trapping my hyperventilated breath in with me. I was tempted to take it off, but the nurses strictly warned against it before they allowed us into the room. Something about 'they might still be contagious.'

"Aaric, what are we going to do?"

Avryl's voice sounded far away, distant and swathed. I didn't answer and kept staring at Alice and Roy. I don't think I heard her the first time, so she had to repeat the question.

"I don't know," I answered solemnly. I was almost shocked by my voice; it sounded so flat.

"...Are we going to go back to the orphanage?"

"No." I turned and gripped her shoulders, making her look into my eyes. "We aren't going back there."

"But -"

"No 'buts'. Come on. We're leaving now." I grabbed her hand and jerked her towards the door.

"But Aaric -! What about the Walters?"

"It doesn't matter. We don't have time to stand around. We have to get going before they come." Already the gears were clicking in my head, mapping out my motions.

"'They'? Who's 'they'?"

"Child Security." I opened the door into the hall and stepped out. A nurse stood there, the same one who warned us about the surgical masks. She began to smile but I cut her off.

"I have to go to the bathroom. Where is it?" I demanded.

Taken aback, she motioned down the hall. "That way... Is everything alright?"

"Perfect," I snapped, and yanked Avryl down the hall towards the bathrooms. She struggled to keep up but caught herself before she tripped over herself.

"The bathroom? What the hell, Aaric?" Avryl whispered harshly as she fell into step with me.

"No. We're going home," I informed her and turned a corner. I remembered coming this way on the way to see the Walters. The front lobby should be up ahead.

"Um, Aaric, I don't know if you recall or not but... legally, we have no home now." The last few words came out hollowly, and I forced down the emotions they stirred in me. It wasn't the time to crawl up in the fetal position and cry. (Though I wanted to with all my heart.)

I made a promise to Avryl nine years ago in that orphanage. That we'd never go back to that wretched place.

I planned on keeping that promise.

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**That was... kind of depressing... TwT**

**But it was necessary! Next chapter, who knows... maybe a leather-faced, long haired Doctor will show up and ruin everybody's lives? WHO KNOWS?**

**Oh, and next chapter might, or might not (being I'm leaning towards 'might'), have a POV switch. Hope there's no anger at this. But it'll switch back to Aaric in the chapters after or so...**

**Haha, I listened to a lot of sad, slow songs while writing this. Violin and piano songs, with really slow vocals. It got me into the whole 'I need to write something depressing' mood. So viola! You got this! I really hope you like it and I appreciate all the positive feedback I've gotten back so far. Thanks guys! :3**


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